Gully Foyle 2012-05-20T23:19:08Z Venus Hoss Man hossman <at> gullyfoyle <dot> com http://gullyfoyle.com/atom.xml http://io9.com/top/io9-5911832 Even More Avengers Concept Art! Animated storyboards, set designs, and the evolution of Loki's alien army
Earlier this morning, we showed you the concept designs for several props from The Avengers. But there's plenty more concept art from Joss Whedon's superhero movie for us to indulge our eyeballs in, detailing the interior settings, action-packed storyboards, and the artistic journey of the Avengers' alien foes and their vehicles. More »
Lauren Davis http://io9.com/tag/top http://ganja.gawkerassets.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png io9 posts tagged Top io9: Top 2012-05-20T22:00:00Z 2012-05-20T22:00:00Z http://scifipulse.net/?p=65718 ‘Avengers’ Assembles Third Week At Top Of Movie Box Office
The Avengers once again muscled its way to the top of the theater box office, giving the film three weeks in a row as the most-attended film in the States. The [...]


http://scifipulse.net/2012/05/avengers-assembles-third-week-at-top-of-movie-box-office/ Wayne Hall http://scifipulse.net UK-based web site taking the pulse of all things SciFi SciFi Pulse 2012-05-20T21:01:53Z 2012-05-20T21:01:53Z http://io9.com/top/io9-5911809 Adorable character designs for Futurama: The Next Generation
A few weeks ago, Becca Jones stole our hearts with her illustrations of Fry and Leela's imaginary kids. Now she's working her way through all the Futurama pairings (and three-person joinings), coming up with a full cast of kiddie characters. More »
Lauren Davis http://io9.com/tag/top http://ganja.gawkerassets.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png io9 posts tagged Top io9: Top 2012-05-20T19:30:00Z 2012-05-20T19:30:00Z tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-4327914418378142659 Fallout: New Vegas
Two centuries after a nuclear war destroyed the United States and much of the world, civilisation is slowly reasserting itself in the American West. Two powerful blocs have formed. The New California Republic follows the ideals and goals of pre-war America, believing in a land of freedom and opportunity. Caesar's Legion is an army of fascist thugs who believe in rule by strength and superiority. Between these two forces lies the Mojave Wasteland and the city of New Vegas, a fiercely independent state ruled by the enigmatic Mr. House and his army of security robots.


A courier, bearing an important parcel for delivery to New Vegas, is shot in the head by an unknown assailant and left for dead. Nursed back to health by a local doctor, the courier sets out to complete his mission, find the assailant and recover his commission. But as the courier delves deeper into the Mojave Wasteland, he (or she) discovers a land poised on the brink of a great change, and that she (or he) may ultimately hold the balance of power.

Fallout: New Vegas was released in late 2010 and is a stand-alone successor to the first three Fallout games. It was developed by Obsidian Entertainment, the successors to Black Isle, that company that created the franchise and the first two games in the sequence. Bethesda, who bought the licence for the franchise and made Fallout 3, contracted Obsidian to make a new game in the series. This move was popular with fans (particularly those doubtful over Bethesda's handling of the series), since it allowed quite a few team-members who worked on the first two games to produce a new Fallout title. There were even able to incorporate some elements of the cancelled 'original' Fallout 3 that Black Isle were working on when they were shut down.

Anyone who's played one of Bethesda's Gamebryo/Creation engine games (Morrowind, Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Skyrim) will be at home here. The game is played from a first-person perspective, although a third-person viewpoint is available as well. You create your character, deciding his or her name and gender and deciding their appearance. There are no classes, with instead you pumping skill points into the areas you want to develop (guns, speech and science are highly recommended). Every two levels you also get perks, special bonuses to certain skills or abilities. You're then set loose in the game world with an initial mission - find the guy who shot you - but also the freedom to wander off, explore, speak to people, pick up initial jobs and so on. It's also up to you whether to play as a heroic wanderer, a practical money-hunter or a psychopathic maniac.

The opening town in the game, Goodsprings, has a number of missions you can do for money and experience (some of which also act as tutorials for the game's combat system). Due to the geography of the Mojave (as depicted in the game), your pursuit of your nemesis leads up a valley through several other settlements, where side-missions are never far away. In this fashion the game encourages you to build up your character before confronting your enemy in New Vegas itself, without restricting your freedom (you can simply ignore everything and go straight to the city if you really want to).

However, there is one massive difference between New Vegas and the Bethesda games: Obsidian have some of the best writers in gaming working for them. Bethesda, to be charitable...don't. In particular, they have little truck with either violence being the only solution to problems or in moral absolutes of black and white. You often find that missions can be accomplished through dialogue or bargaining rather than violence alone. Your skills impact on your dialogue choices in a way that didn't happen in Fallout 3, immediately opening up a vaster number of options. If you have a high medical skill, for example, you can simply tell a medic how to make the best use of his resources rather than going on a long and dangerous mission halfway across the map to find the same info in a textbook. In addition there are situations where there are two options and each option has both positive and negative consequences and neither is obviously the 'right' choice to make. You have to make the choice which makes the most sense for your character, given their allegiances.

There is also a faction system at work in the game. On the larger scale, the armies of the New California Republic and Caesar's Legion are clashing for control of the Mojave, and in particular the tactically important location of Hoover's Dam, which provides power for most of the region. You can ally with either side and perform missions for them, but this will ultimately destroy your reputation with the other side and close down your ability to do missions for them as well. New Vegas doesn't allow you to have your cake and eat it. It forces you to make decisions and stick to them. There is also a second layer of factions at work in New Vegas itself, with Mr. House determined to maintain the city's independence whilst the local representatives of the New California Republic tries to convince him to join them. There's also another faction in New Vegas which seeks to eliminate Mr. House and seize control themselves. Once again, you can choose which side to join.


However, and this is where New Vegas really impresses, the game also gives you a very important option: to be yourself. Can't choose between the NCR and the Legion? Ignore both of them. Or wage war on both of them whenever you find them. Don't like Mr. House or his enemies? Eliminate both of them, seize control of Mr. House's immense army of robot sentries and rule New Vegas yourself. No character in the game has plot-armour. You can be in a high-level strategic conference with the NCR's senior-most general, but you can, if you wish, shoot her in the head. There are consequences (the NCR will turn on you and try to hunt you down wherever you are, and further missions from them will not be available), but you can do it if you wish. The game doesn't force you to do anything you don't want to, and gives the player an impressive amount of freedom.

Where the game also scores big over Fallout 3 and Skyrim is its treatment of companion characters. In those games, companions are basically extra weapons platforms and a mobile bonus inventory. They don't really talk to you and after a while there is no point interacting with them other than what they can do for you on a practical level. In New Vegas, each potential follower has a quest associated with them and their own allegiances and preferences. Bringing ex-NCR sniper Boone into a Legion camp will result in Boone going on a killing spree. Come into conflict with NCR troopers and Boone may leave or even turn on you. This applies to all of the companions, who also seem a bit chattier than in Bethesda's own games. In short, in New Vegas companion characters bring a lot more to the table than their Bethesda counterparts.

Graphically, the game looks a little lacking compared to Skyrim with its high-res textures installed, but otherwise looks credibly impressive. There are some great environment and sound effects that convincingly sell the illusion of being in the desert. There is some clunkiness; rock faces and mountains are sometimes surrounded by invisible walls to prevent you climbing over them, which is odd. But otherwise the graphics and sound effects are strong. The interface is unchanged from Fallout 3 and is mostly fine, but there is no way of instantly accessing your quest log, inventory or skill sheet with a single button. Instead you must activate your PIP-BOY (a wrist-mounted mini-computer) and cycle through the pages, which is a cumbersome process, even though the game freezes whilst using it. You can assign weapons, healing packs and other items to hotkeys, however, which does help.

For combat, you can either engage in direct combat FPS-style (now enhanced by the addition of iron sights) or use VATS. In this mode combat is paused and you can target an enemy's limbs before resuming the battle. This was generally nice but not essential in Fallout 3, but is more important in New Vegas. Throughout the game you will face a relentless type of flying insect called a 'cazadore', which is exceptionally deadly. Blowing their wings off, ridding them of their devastating speed, in VATS is a good way of dealing with them. Combat is thus a bit more involved and satisfying than in Fallout 3, with a larger and more interesting array of weapons. There's also more focus on melee combat, which is useful in close-quarters battles where stopping to reload a firearm could be fatal.

Like the other Fallout games, New Vegas is set in a radioactive environment where the very soil and water is hazardous. Unlike the other games, the New Vegas area did not take a direct nuclear hit during the war so these hazards are much less prevalent than in Fallout 3. Coupled with a lack of famous landmarks (aside from Hoover Dam), New Vegas sells the idea of being in a post-apocalyptic world less effectively than Fallout 3. However, it does do a better job of selling the illusion of a post-post-apocalyptic world, where the apocalypse was a long time ago (now more than two centuries) and civilisation is starting to reassert itself. For those who do feel the environment is less threatening than previous games, you can activate a hardcore mode which forces you to sleep, eat and drink on a regular basis, as well as giving your ammo weight (preventing you from lugging tons of it all over the place). A further optional mod by the game's project lead also makes the game more challenging still (by halving the amount of experience you get).

New Vegas has a formidable array of memorable characters to talk to and deal with. Your companions are fully fleshed-out individuals with complex motivations and backstory. Boone, a devastatingly competent sniper and soldier, is working through the pain of the loss of his family to raiders. A Super Mutant who allies with you is suffering mental problems (the result of exposure to a dangerous technology) but is also tormented by memories of her grandchildren, who died decades earlier. Mr. House believes he can restore peace to the world and presents you with rationales as to why this is so, but is also an egotistical narcissist with no real idea of his true nature (as a hilariously over-the-top obituary - penned by himself in the event of his death - proves). Caesar himself is a deluded sociopath who justifies the mass-slaughter of innocents through dubious rhetoric (which you can attempt to argue him out of, or can choose to remove his head instead). Even minor characters, like the explosive-obsessed 'Boomers' who've taken over an old military base or the doctor who patches you up at the start of the game, have their own stories and characteristic tics. The voice acting is also superb, with a special shout-out to Michael Hogan (Saul Tigh from the new Battlestar Galactica) whose voice is the first thing you hear in the game (after Ron Perlman's traditional opening narration, of course).

The combination of these factors is that Fallout: New Vegas is the best game released by Bethesda to date (although it was not developed by them). Obsidian have crafted an open-world storyline based on choice and freedom of action to go with the open-world setting. There are complex moral choices to make, memorable and three-dimensional characters to interact with and the ability to solve problems without always resorting to guns and violence (you can even defeat the end-of-game enemy through dialogue, rather than weaponry). The faction system gives rise to a large number of different possible endings as well. With New Vegas Obsidian have finally added a freeform, flexible and complex story worthy of the freeform, complex and open nature of the game engine that Bethesda have created.

Unfortunately, the game is let down by some minor technical issues. The game is now in a much better state than at launch, where it was a bit of a mess. Most of the bugs have now been fixed, and I actually had less crashes than I did with Fallout 3. However, an ongoing bug prevented me from loading saved games from the start menu, which was a bit silly. I had to start a new game each time and then load from within the game world. Fortunately, loading is so fast that this was not a problem (adding maybe 5 seconds to the load process). Still, the fact this known issue was not fixed (and, with support for the game now ended, never will be) at some point is irritating.

Fallout: New Vegas (****½) is a long, impressive roleplaying game set against a complex, morally ambiguous backdrop which gives the player real freedom in the narrative sphere as well as the simplistic exploration-and-shoot-things area. Despite some minor technical issues, it is a brilliant game and the best thing released by Bethesda since Morrowind, and the best game produced by Obsidian to date. It is available now, packaged with its excellent expansions (which I will cover separately), in the UK (PC, X-Box 360 and PlayStation 3) and USA (PC, X-Box 360 and PlayStation 3).
Adam Whitehead noreply@blogger.com http://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311 tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608 Adam Whitehead noreply@blogger.com http://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311 SF&F In Print & On Screen The Wertzone 2012-05-20T19:01:00Z 2012-05-20T19:01:00Z http://www.bureau42.com/?p=11258 Weekly Digital Disk Picks for May 22nd, 2012 There aren’t a lot of titles on the list this one, but there are some really great ones – including several films by Hayao Miyazaki. B0079KGAN0 Title Available Formats Action Lethal Weapon Collection Blu-Ray only: Amazon S.W.A.T. – The Final Season DVD only: Amazon Safe House Digital purchase: Amazon Anime Castle in the Sky DVD/Blu-Ray [...]

There aren’t a lot of titles on the list this one, but there are some really great ones – including several films by Hayao Miyazaki.

B0079KGAN0

Title Available Formats
Action
Lethal Weapon Collection
S.W.A.T. – The Final Season
Safe House
Anime
Castle in the Sky
First of several Hayao Miyazaki films coming out this week.
Dragon Ball Z Kai – Season 1
Dragon Ball Z Kai – Season 2
Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood – OVAs and Comic Theater
The Secret World of Arrietty
Miyazaki’s latest work – adapting “The Borrowers”
Whisper of the Heart
The third Miyazaki film to get a Blu-Ray release this week.
Art House
Certified Copy (Criterion Collection)
Eclipse Series 33: Up All Night with Robert Downey Sr. (Criterion Collection)
Blaine: Includes Babo 73, Chafed Elbows, No More Excuses, Putney Swope, and Two Tons of Turquoise to Taos Tonight.
Biopic
Red Tails
Classics (Cult)
Classics (Traditional)
Comedy
Crime
Documentary
Drama
Route 66: The Complete Series
Family
Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog Vol. 1
Inch High Private Eye: The Complete Series
The Legend of Zelda: The Complete Series
Super Mario Bros. Super Show Vol. 1
Fantasy
Teen Wolf: Season One
Horror
The Woman in Black
Music / Musical
Dean Martin Variety Show Uncut
Blaine: This category is a poor fit, but we don’t have anything that suits a variety show any better.
Mystery
Rizzoli and Isles: The Complete Second Season
Sherlock: Season Two
Blaine: I picked this up via iTunes. I’d say it’s stronger than the first season.
Terror By Night
Blaine: A Sherlock Holmes movie from 1946 with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce.
Reality
Romance
Perfect Sense
This Means War
Science Fiction
The River: The Complete First Season
Seasonal
Sports
WWE Presents – The Best of WCW Clash of the Champions
Superhero
Suspense
Beyond
The Stranger
War
Western

Finally, the picks of the week. Blaine says, “Sherlock: Season Two is the hands down winner.” Alex says, “Sherlock is indeed good, but the Miyazaki films are also worthy of your consideration – particularly if you’ve got a Blu-Ray player.”

 Alexander Case http://countzeroor.wordpress.com http://www.bureau42.com/feed/atom Bureau 42 Bureau 42 2012-05-20T18:12:57Z 2012-05-20T18:12:57Z http://suvudu.com/?p=30030 Suvudu Likes: 5/19/12
mieville-railseaThere are some great sci-fi/fantasy bloggers out there, fans who are devoting a lot of time and energy into supporting authors and their readers. Variety is the spice of life, as they say, and with the menagerie of unique and very different individuals out there contributing, it produces a whole that is better than its parts. Here is a list of what other bloggers on the internet(s) did in the last week—reviews, interviews, comments, giveaways, and the like.

mieville-railseaThe internet(s) gives and gives and gives.

There are some great sci-fi/fantasy bloggers out there, fans who are devoting a lot of time and energy into supporting authors and their readers. Variety is the spice of life, as they say, and with the menagerie of unique and very different individuals out there contributing, it produces a whole that is better than its parts.

Last week, Suvudu posted the First 50 Pages of Sky Dragons by Anne & Todd McCaffrey. Elio Garcia, Jr. posted Review of Game of Thrones: A Man Without Honor! Sarah Peed posted A Letter From Kevin Hearne. Matt Staggs posted The Zombie Tarot Deck. And I polled Where Do You Buy Your Books?!

In other areas of the professional internet(s), Tor.com posted the Nebula Award winners, Pyr Books featured The Locus Awards, and Orbit Books features The King’s Blood by Daniel Abraham!

Here are some of the blogging highlights I found outside of Suvudu week ending 5/19/12:

  • Birthday: Ink Turns Five, posted by A Dribble of Ink
  • Comment: Best Fantasy Artists, posted by A Fantasy Reader
  • Guest Post: Sequels & Satisfying Endings, posted by Fantasy Book Critic
  • Review: Scholar by L.E. Modesitt, Jr., read by Fantasy Literature
  • UK Tour: Railsea by China Mieville, posted by Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review
  • Comment: 2011 Nebula Award Winners, read by Grasping For the Wind
  • Cover: The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination edited by John Joseph Adams, posted by The Mad Hatter’s Bookshelf
  • Giveaway: Winter’s Dream by Glen Cook, posted by Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist
  • Review: Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore, read by Sci-Fi Chick
  • UK Event: Iain M. Banks and Kim Stanley Robinson, posted by Wertzone

I highly recommend all Suvudu readers to visit these fine examples of sci-fi / fantasy blog work! Get involved, post your thoughts, and enjoy what else is out there!

And feel free to talk about it or anything else on our Forum here!

Till next week…

 Shawn Speakman http://suvudu.com Suvudu - Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, Movies, and Games Suvudu » SF & Fantasy 2012-05-20T17:00:37Z 2012-05-20T17:00:37Z http://boingboing.net/?p=161871 Nebula Award winners announced Congratulations to the winners of the 2011 Nebula Awards, especially to Jo Walton, who won for her magnificent novel, Among Others (see my review, here). Also congrats to Delia Sherman for her best YA book prize for The Freedom Maze (my review). * Novel Winner: Among Others, Jo Walton (Tor) * Novella Winner: ”The Man [...]

Congratulations to the winners of the 2011 Nebula Awards, especially to Jo Walton, who won for her magnificent novel, Among Others (see my review, here). Also congrats to Delia Sherman for her best YA book prize for The Freedom Maze (my review).

* Novel Winner: Among Others, Jo Walton (Tor)

* Novella Winner: ”The Man Who Bridged the Mist,” Kij Johnson (Asimov’s Science Fiction, October/November 2011)

* Novelette Winner: ”What We Found,” Geoff Ryman (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, September/October 2011)

* Short Story Winner: ”The Paper Menagerie,” Ken Liu (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, March/April 2011)

* Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation Winner: Doctor Who: “The Doctor’s Wife,” Neil Gaiman (writer), Richard Clark (director) (BBC Wales)

* Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Winner: The Freedom Maze, Delia Sherman (Big Mouth House)

* 2011 DAMON KNIGHT GRAND MASTER AWARD: Connie Willis

* SOLSTICE AWARD: Octavia Butler (posthumous) and John Clute

* SERVICE TO SFWA AWARD: Bud Webster

2011 Nebula Awards Announced (via IO9)

 Cory Doctorow http://boingboing.net/feed/atom Brain candy for Happy Mutants Boing Boing » science fiction 2012-05-20T16:14:12Z 2012-05-20T16:14:12Z http://io9.com/top/io9-5911776 DC plans to bring a prominent character out of the closet
DC Comics' New 52 has brought plenty of changes to its superpowered characters, but the publisher's policy has been not to change the sexual orientations of any existing characters. That's about to change, however, as DC co-publisher Dan DiDio announces plans to reintroduce an established character as gay. More »
Lauren Davis http://io9.com/tag/top http://ganja.gawkerassets.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png io9 posts tagged Top io9: Top 2012-05-20T16:00:00Z 2012-05-20T16:00:00Z tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7172359179613729870.post-393711062352797714 Nebula awards 2011: winners announced
Tinkoo noreply@blogger.com tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7172359179613729870 http://bp2.blogger.com/_nafg3xezaHw/Rw98WO5Bg_I/AAAAAAAAAPY/bS-pt0-0fvY/s400/url-bar-icon.jpg Tinkoo noreply@blogger.com Sampling a variety of sf authors & themes Variety SF 2012-05-20T15:21:00Z 2012-05-20T15:21:00Z tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7172359179613729870.post-4094287605364222082 Fiction involving fungus monsters
rasfw recently did a listing of such science fiction.

Related: Stories by theme.
Tinkoo noreply@blogger.com tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7172359179613729870 http://bp2.blogger.com/_nafg3xezaHw/Rw98WO5Bg_I/AAAAAAAAAPY/bS-pt0-0fvY/s400/url-bar-icon.jpg Tinkoo noreply@blogger.com Sampling a variety of sf authors & themes Variety SF 2012-05-20T15:18:00Z 2012-05-20T15:18:00Z http://io9.com/top/io9-5911757 Avengers concept art takes a closer look at Loki's staff and Hawkeye's arrows
Concept artist Fabian Lacey designed many of the props for The Avengers, including Hawkeye's bow and arrows, Loki's sceptre and staff, and Tony Stark's bracelets. And Lacey has kindly released several of his concept designs for the film. More »
Lauren Davis http://io9.com/tag/top http://ganja.gawkerassets.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png io9 posts tagged Top io9: Top 2012-05-20T15:00:00Z 2012-05-20T15:00:00Z http://www.sfsignal.com/?p=55635 Today’s Kindle Daily Deal: Get “The Mongoliad” for 99 Cents!
Today’s Kindle Daily Deal at Amazon U.S. is Book 1 of The Foreworld Saga, The Mongoliad: Book One by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, E.D. deBirmingham, Erik Bear, Joseph Brassey and Cooper Moo. The first novel to be released in The Foreworld Saga, The Mongoliad: Book One, is an epic-within-an-epic, taking place in 13th [...] Related posts:
  1. The Mongoliad: A New Project by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear & Friends
  2. BOOK TRAILER: Neal Stephenson, Sword Play, and ‘The Mongoliad’
  3. eBook Deal: Get Hooked on Gail Carriger’s “Parasol Protectorate” Series for 99 Cents

Today’s Kindle Daily Deal at Amazon U.S. is Book 1 of The Foreworld Saga, The Mongoliad: Book One by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, E.D. deBirmingham, Erik Bear, Joseph Brassey and Cooper Moo.

The first novel to be released in The Foreworld Saga, The Mongoliad: Book One, is an epic-within-an-epic, taking place in 13th century. In it, a small band of warriors and mystics raise their swords to save Europe from a bloodthirsty Mongol invasion. Inspired by their leader (an elder of an order of warrior monks), they embark on a perilous journey and uncover the history of hidden knowledge and conflict among powerful secret societies that had been shaping world events for millennia.

But the saga reaches the modern world via a circuitous route. In the late 19th century, Sir Richard F. Burton, an expert on exotic languages and historical swordsmanship, is approached by a mysterious group of English martial arts aficionados about translating a collection of long-lost manuscripts. Burton dies before his work is finished, and his efforts were thought lost until recently rediscovered by a team of amateur archaeologists in the ruins of a mansion in Trieste, Italy. From this collection of arcana, the incredible tale of The Mongoliad was recreated.

Full of high adventure, unforgettable characters, and unflinching battle scenes, The Mongoliad ignites a dangerous quest where willpower and blades are tested and the scope of world-building is redefined.

A NOTE ON THIS EDITION: The Mongoliad began as a social media experiment, combining serial story-telling with a unique level of interaction between authors and audience during the creative process. Since its original iteration, The Mongoliad has been restructured, edited, and rewritten under the supervision of its authors to create a more cohesive reading experience and will be published as a trilogy of novels. This edition is the definitive edition and is the authors’ preferred text.

A reminder: Kindle eBook like The Mongoliad work with Kindle devices as well as computers and smartphones running the Kindle application.

http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2012/05/todays-kindle-daily-deal-get-the-mongoliad-for-99-cents/ John DeNardo http://www.sfsignal.com A science fiction blog featuring science fiction book reviews and with frequent ramblings on fantasy, computers and the web. SF Signal - A Speculative Fiction Blog 2012-05-20T14:21:12Z 2012-05-20T14:21:12Z http://io9.com/top/io9-5911750 The Eleventh Doctor has turned into a puppet, but he doesn't seem to mind
The Doctor's still not ginger, but he has gone puppet, which is quite an interesting change from his usual form. And the doll-shaped Doctor has been having a pleasant adventure in New York City, with hot dogs, ferris wheels, and a surprising lack of aliens.
Lauren Davis http://io9.com/tag/top http://ganja.gawkerassets.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png io9 posts tagged Top io9: Top 2012-05-20T14:00:00Z 2012-05-20T14:00:00Z http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/05/journey-to-planet-joco-qim-your-moonq Journey to Planet JoCo: “I’m Your Moon”

Journey to Planet JoCo

Welcome to Journey to Planet JoCo, an interview series where science fiction and sometimes fantasy author John Scalzi talks to musician Jonathan Coulton about science fiction and science fiction songs.

Every morning at 9 AM from now to May 29, John will talk to Jonathan about one of JoCo’s songs, getting in-depth — and possibly out of his depth — about the inspiration and construction behind them. Which ones? You’ll have to come back every morning to see!

Today John talks to Jon about “I’m Your Moon.” Audio and the chat transcript are below.

[Read more]

Read the full article

 http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/05/journey-to-planet-joco-qim-your-moonq John Scalzi http://www.tor.com/ This feed includes everything on the Tor.com homepage, including both blogs and stories. It only has partial content, so you'll need to click through for the full post or story. Tor.com Frontpage Partial - Blog and Story Content 2012-05-20T13:18:08Z 2012-05-20T13:18:08Z http://www.sfsignal.com/?p=55610 WINNERS: 2011 Nebula Awards
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America have announced the winners of the 2011 Nebula Awards: NOVEL: Among Others, by Jo Walton (Tor) NOVELLA: “The Man Who Bridged the Mist,” Kij Johnson (Asimov’s Science Fiction, October/November 2011) NOVELLETTE: “What We Found,” Geoff Ryman (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, September/October 2011) SHORT STORY: [...] Related posts:
  1. FINALISTS: 2011 Nebula Awards (With Free Fiction Links!)
  2. WINNERS: 2010 Nebula Awards
  3. WINNERS: 2007 Nebula Awards

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America have announced the winners of the 2011 Nebula Awards:

  • NOVEL: Among Others, by Jo Walton (Tor)

  • NOVELLA: “The Man Who Bridged the Mist,” Kij Johnson (Asimov’s Science Fiction, October/November 2011)

  • NOVELLETTE: “What We Found,” Geoff Ryman (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, September/October 2011)

  • SHORT STORY: “The Paper Menagerie,” Ken Liu (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, March/April 2011)

  • RAY BRADBURY AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING DRAMATIC PRESENTATION: Doctor Who: “The Doctor’s Wife,” Neil Gaiman (writer), Richard Clark (director) (BBC Wales)

  • ANDRE NORTON AWARD FOR YOUNG ADULT SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY BOOK: The Freedom Maze, Delia Sherman (Big Mouth House)

  • 2011 DAMON KNIGHT GRAND MASTER AWARD: Connie Willis

  • SOLSTICE AWARD: Octavia Butler (posthumous) and John Clute

  • SERVICE TO SFWA AWARD: Bud Webster

http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2012/05/winners-2011-nebula-awards/ John DeNardo http://www.sfsignal.com A science fiction blog featuring science fiction book reviews and with frequent ramblings on fantasy, computers and the web. SF Signal - A Speculative Fiction Blog 2012-05-20T05:29:07Z 2012-05-20T05:29:07Z http://www.sfsignal.com/?p=55310 Sunday Cinema: Flatland (2007)
Here’s an animated 2007 production of Edwin Abott’s Flatland… [via Poe TV] Related posts: SF Tidbits for 1/26/07 Sunday Cinema: Steamboy (2004) Sunday Cinema: Ralph Bakshi’s Animated “Lord Of The Rings” (1978) Related posts:
  1. SF Tidbits for 1/26/07
  2. Sunday Cinema: Steamboy (2004)
  3. Sunday Cinema: Ralph Bakshi’s Animated “Lord Of The Rings” (1978)

Here’s an animated 2007 production of Edwin Abott’s Flatland…