BRUM GROUP NEWS The Free Monthly Newsletter of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group September 2007 Issue 432 Honorary Presidents Brian W AIdiss O.B.E. & Harry Harrison Committee Vernon Brown (Chairman), Vicky Cook (Secretary) Pat Brown (Treasurer), Tim Stock (Publicity), William McCabe Novacon 37 Chairman - Steve Green Website www.bsfg.freeservers.com Email [email protected] Friday 14th September The Write Fantastic The Write Fantastic is an initiative by authors to introduce fantasy fiction to the reading public. They give readings, talks and lectures, run workshops, and participate in panels and question & answer sessions. Included in this group are Chaz Brenchley , Juliet E McKenna, Deborah J Miller, Stan Nicholls and Jessica Rydill. Between them, their work covers the gamut of fantasy writing from orcs and dragons, swords and sorcery to reimagined myth and history, and the magics of matter, mind and spirit. We look forward to welcoming them back on Friday 14th September. They will have plenty to say and will answer questions about the genre, writing, and anything else! See www.thewritefantastic.com for more information. The meeting will take place in the Lichfield room on the second floor of the Britannia Hotel, New Street (entrance in Union Passage almost opposite the Odeon. At the bottom of the ramp from New Street Station, turn right, crossover the road and you'll find Union Passage about 20-30 yards along). The meeting will commence at 7.45 pm. Next meeting : 12lh October BSFG News Page 1 A french fan has been arrested for posting a complete translation of the new Harry Potter book on the internet two months in advance of the official translation. Filming is well underway on the second series of "Heroes". Two of the stars were trying desperately to avoid talking about it at a comics convention. "Yeah, we're already about six weeks in, five episodes in. Yeah. Some of us, some of us. ... I mean, maybe not us." said one of the actors whose characters were apparently killed off at the end of series 1. Local branches of Waterstones now have their own free "sci-fi" newsletter. The August edition includes retrospectives on David Gemmell & Dune and a prize competition for those that can guess what country a "top Russian author" comes from. Scientists from the University of Minnesota have found a hole in space. They have found a zone of space a billion light years wide that doesn't have any gas, dust, or (so they believe) dark matter. The literary James Tait Black Memorial Prize goes to Cormac Macarthy's "The Road" described as "a journey across post-apocalypse America" (now where have I heard that before?).New pictures from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer show a star with a tail like a comet. Mira in the constellation Cetus has a tail show a tail that is 13 light-years long. Coming soon Film remakes of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (with Nicole Kidman), "Fantastic Voyage", "Escape from New York", "The day the earth stood still" (starring Keanu Reeves), "The Jungle Book" more "Conan"... Various Neil Gaiman stories will appear on film. "Stardust", which he produced, is finished. "Coraline" is to be an animated picture from the director of "Nightmare Before Christmas" and Gaiman will direct "Death : the high cost of living" himself. Peter Jackson might yet make "The Hobbit". Although he's still arguing about his cut from "Lord of the Rings", he has started talking to the film company again. If it ever reaches TV an episode of "Masters of Science Fiction" called "The Discarded" will feature Harlan Ellison. Paris Hilton is to sing in a musical entitled "Repo! The Genetic Opera" a BSFG News Page 2 science-fiction musical thriller set in 2056 as humanity is devastated by an epidemic. Ridley Scott at a screening of the 5"1 version of "Blade Runner" claims that "sci-fi" films are dead. "There's nothing original," he said. "We've seen it all before. Been there. Done it." When asked to pick examples, he said: "All of them. Yes, all of them." Joss Whedon wants Pete Doherty (pop singer well-known for a drug problem) to play a zombie in his new Buffy spin-off. On the internet www.computercrowsnest.com/features/arc/2007/nz11521.php has a recent interview with Brian Aldiss on his novel Harm, film adaptations, and politics. Awards Young Adult: Rash by Pete Next year's Sunburst award Hautman (Canadian) will have awards for Special Award: Write Your Own Adult and "Young Adult" books. Science Fiction Story by Tish Farrel The Sidewise Awards for World Fantasy Life Achievement Alternate History Award winners Diana Wynne Jones Long Form: Charles Stross, The and Betty Ballantine Family Trade, The Hidden Family World Fantasy Award and The Clan Corporate. Nominations Short Form: Gardner Dozois, Novel "Counterfactual" Lisey's Story, by Stephen King The Privilege of the Sword, by Ellen First Fandom Award Kushner Hall of Fame: Algis Budrys The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Posthumous Hall of Fame: Dan Daily Lynch The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Golden Duck Awards for Garden, by Catherynne M. Valente children's science fiction: Soldier of Sidon, by Gene Wolfe Picture Book: Night of the Homework Novella Zombies by Scott Nickel and "Botch Town," by Jeffrey Ford illustrated by Steve Harpster "The Man Who Got Off the Ghost Middle Grades: Apers by Mike Train," by Kim Newman Jansen and Barbara Day Zinicola BSFG News Page 3 Dark Harvest, by Norman Partridge Artist "Map of Dreams," by M. Rickert Jon Foster, Edward Miller, John "The Lineaments of Gratified Picacio, Shaun Tan, Jill Thompson Desire," by Ysabeau S. Wilce Short Fiction British Fantasy Award "The Way He Does It," by Jeffrey Nominations Ford Novel: The August Derleth Award "Journey Into the Kingdom," by M. Bride of Dreams, by Chaz Brenchley Rickert The Devil You Know, by Mike Carey "A Siege of Cranes," by Benjamin Jack of Ravens: Kingdom of the Rosenbaum Serpent Book 1, by Mark Chadbourn "Another Word for Map is Faith," by Nova Swing, by M. John Harrison Christopher Rowe Dusk, by Tim Lebbon "Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott (Fantasy)," by Geoff Ryman Lynch Anthology Breeding Ground, by Sarah Cross Plains Universe: Texans Pinborough Celebrate Robert E. Howard, by The Face of Twilight, by Mark Scott A. Cupp & Joe R. Lansdale, Samuels eds. The Unblemished, by Conrad Salon Fantastique, by Ellen Datlow Williams & Terry Windling, eds. Novella Retro Pulp Tales, by Joe R. "The Memory of Joy," by Eric Brown Lansdale, ed. "She Loves Monsters," by Simon Twenty Epics, by David Moles & Susan Marie Groppi, eds. Clark Firebirds Rising, by Sharyn "Kid," by Paul Finch November, ed. "The Djinn's Wife," by Ian McDonald Collection "Rough Cut," by Gary McMahon The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Short Fiction other stories, by Susanna Clarke "The Little Drummer Boy," by Marion The Empire of Ice Cream, by Jeffrey Arnott Ford "Whisper Lane," by Mark Chadbourn American Morons, by Glen "Puca Muc," by Steve Lockley & Hirshberg Paul Lewis Red Spikes, by Margo Lanagan "The Disappeared," by Sarah Singleton Map of Dreams, by M. Rickert BSFG News Page 4 "31/10," by Stephen Volk Situations Vacant "The Veteran," by Conrad Williams Would anyone wishing to take on Collection the post of Chairman of Novacon Fragile Things, by Neil Gaiman 38 to be held in November of 2008 The Lost District and Other Stories, please contact the committee as by Joel Lane soon as possible. We have no candidates for the post at the The Man from The Diogenes Club, moment. by Kim Newman Unbecoming and Other Tales of .................... Horror, by Mike O'Driscoll Quiz The Ephemera, by Neil Williamson Anthology Who wrote the following stories Extended Play: The Elastic Book of 1. In the days of the comet (1906) Music, edited by Gary Couzens 2. The Comet Doom (1928) The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror: 3. The Year of the Comet (1955) 19th Annual Collection, edited by 4. Tales of the Velvet Comet (1984- Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link & Gavin J. 86) Grant Shrouded By Darkness: Tales of 5. Heart of the Comet (1986) Terror, edited by Alison L. R. Davies 6. The Cometeers (1936) The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 17, edited by Stephen Jones Choices, edited by Christopher Last month's Quiz Answers Teague 1. "In the looking glass" - an earlier Obituary series with the same cast "The end of the pier show" had some sf Alice Borchardt (b. 1939) died on July content. 24. She was the author of fantasy trilogy The Silver Wolf, Night of the 2. J G Ballard - "Empire of the sun" Wolf and The Wolf King and the was no. 44 on the list. sister of Ann Rice. 3. Norman Spinrad's "Bug Jack Barron" - either the opening is a punctuation error or it gives away some of the plot 4. "The war in the air". Wells also wrote the non-fiction book "The war that will end war". BSFG News Page 5 THE DA-DA-DE-DA-DA CODE by Robert Rankin, Gollancz/Orion; 334 pages, £14.99 h/b. Reviewed by Dave Hardy **** When Rog offered me this book he began by saying: "Dave - have you read The Da Vinci Code?" When I said that I had, he replied' "Here you are then, this is for you!". So I should probably start by saying that the Rankin book has nothing at all to do with the Brown one, apart from the punning title. Actually this conspiracy is much, much bigger than the one in the Brown book, because it affects everyone, and the fate of our whole world.