It is by coffee alone I set my mind in motion.
It is by the beans of java that thoughts acquire speed.
The hands acquire trembling.
The trembling becomes a warning.
It is by coffee alone I set my mind in motion.
Frank Herbert on Mentat caffeine addiction.
Eric
Nylund Interviewed
Eric, the SF author of Crimson Skies, talks about his previous
career getting paid to play PC games, about writing to a strict outline,
and the art of giving good sharecrop game novels.
(AUTHOR INTERVIEWS)
Kiss
me, Hardy
Science fiction illustrator David A. Hardy interviewed. Very few
artists have been able to tackle both comprehensively researched astronomical
art and SF art with equal success. But David is a triumphant exception.
(INTERVIEWS)
Offworld
Report: November 2002
The International Space Station gets a life boat, JK Rowling accuses
a Russian author of cloning her Harry Potter books (translated from the
original Klingon, surely), and Tom Doherty, the grand fromage at Tor Books,
chats about his beautiful life in science fiction.
(NEWS)
The
Prisoner - Confined!
Uncle Geoff takes a look at the classic TV series The Prisoner,
and ponders why the heck did Number 6 resign from the British secret service?
(ARTICLES)
Position
Wanted: The Next Spielberg?
The race is on across the UK for a new breed of science fiction
films. The British Film Council's Development Fund has created New Steps
Beyond, a new film partnership, to develop three new science fiction feature
films.
(NEWS)
Dead
Stop (Star Trek Enterprise)
The Enterprise, in desperate need of repair, comes aboard an automated
space station that works miracles for a terrible price. Sounds a little
like the greasy spoon in our local motorway service station.
(TV REVIEWS)
A
Night in Sickbay (Star Trek Enterprise)
Archer spends the night in sickbay when an away mission threatens
Porthos' life. Our Tim discovers some okay cultural stuff for Phlox, far
overshadowed by the truly horrific sludge in between.
(TV REVIEWS)
Marauders
(Star Trek Enterprise)
The Enterprise helps teach a mining colony to protect itself from
the repeated depredations of a Klingon raiding party. Well, we're still
waiting for the damn Klingons to turn up in nylon uniforms and green grease
paint.
(TV REVIEWS)
Oh-Oh
Heaven?
Bond is back with Die Another Day. Is our Pierce the best thing
since Sean put on a bow-tie and gave Goldfinger a slapping? Or is this
more so-so heaven, rather than double 'O' heaven? Frank investigates.
(FILM REVIEWS)
Pottering
About (Again)
Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts School for his sophomore year
and finds a new mystery involving a missing secret room at the school
and a struggle between pure wizards and those who are interbred. This
is not a perfect film, and it does drag in spots, but it is consistently
inventive and rewarding.
(FILM REVIEWS)
BOOK & TV REVIEWS
Books
Videos and Music
NASA announced plans last month to release a book proving that the moon landings weren't faked ... until they strangely announced they wouldn't be publishing the book after all. They had, err, changed their minds. So do you think NASA landed on the moon - or was the whole thing filmed Capricorn One-style in some hangar around Area 51?
Give vent to your feelings by voting now ...
Vote at http://www.SFcrowsnest.com/pollarchive.htm
LAST MONTH'S RESULT
In November, Uncle
Geoff asked, is it the case that science fiction on television is plumbing
new depths of dumb.
Is your intelligence being insulted by TV ... or is this current fare
just the kind of escapism you wished for?
Well, this vote wasn't clear-cut by anyone's definition of the word. A narrow majority of 59% complained the science fiction TV schedule is as thick as two short planks, while the remaining 49% of you considered that most of today's SF television fare isn't stupid ... just entertaining. Hmmm. I guess somebody has to watch all that Buffy, Xena and Dark Angel the networks keep throwing at us.
What if you didn't read this month's site of the month? Then again, what if you did? Yes, this month we put a site that looks at the strange world of alternative realities under the review team's steely-eye gaze. Of course, in a parallel world, the 'Nest is reviewing a James Bond site instead.
http://www.SFcrowsnest.com/directory/wiz1202.htm
Just
what has carried over into real life from the world of Science Fiction?
Uncle Geoff investigates and asks the question: ‘Was it a wolf who said
the sheep would inherit the Earth?’
The answer, my friend,
is coming via a viral marketing campaign to you real soon. Right after
this short break ...
http://www.SFcrowsnest.com/Holotales/edit.htm
One of the nice things about being online is that we can publish slightly off-the-wall material that would never find a home in a highly targeted advertising-ruled print magazine world. An article we always trot out as an example of this, is Uncle Geoff's piece about what the heck fuel & engine combination the Thunderbirds craft used in the classic 1960s TV series of the same name.
Let's face it, you're not going to read the likes of that in SFX, Starlog, Starburst, Interzone or the rest of the print mafia's publications! If there's an article inside you - could be continuity errors in Andromeda, your latest work of short fiction, or just why you think Iain Banks' novels are the greatest SF since a little man called Verne put pen to paper - do drop Geoff a line below.
Contact Uncle Geoff
in the rainy English countryside at gfwillmetts
We still fund this puppy's bandwidth and other miscellaneous expenses out of our own pocket, so the spirit of volunteerism is about the only thing that keeps our happy ship in hyperspace. Any time, articles, stories or reviews you can submit are always appreciated.
BTW, if you're interested in becoming a book or DVD reviewer, we'd really, really (no, really) appreciate it if you were UK-based. Posting out the hundred of goodies we get every week is an expensive business, and extra airmail costs could lead to Geoff and Steve eating dog food in some mad economy-drive of death. Of course, if you're based in the US or Australia and you fancy reviewing your own stash of goodies resulting from your science fiction and fantasy addiction, then that okay by us ... but we can't supply you ourselves! Sorry.
Got your own web site? Then increase the traffic to it today!
Thanks to our nifty new syndication engine, you can now add SFcrowsnest.com's monthly news to your own web site for free. It's a lot of work creating dynamic, fresh content to attract visitors back to your science fiction/fantasy web site. Now - with a one-minute cut & paste of two lines of code - you can take some of the effort out of the process ... and give your users another reason to visit your own fab online offering.
You can find full details of this new tool over at ...
http://www.SFcrowsnest.com/portablenews.htm
Know of any science fiction and fantasy pals who don't yet receive this fine monthly magazine? Forward it to them and let them quiver in awe of your highly evolved and very discriminating SFF-loving taste. Then twist the arms of the little blighters in a cruel-to-be-kind attempt to get them to subscribe free too!
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Copyright
© 2002 Science Fiction Crowsnest.