Offworld Report: Science fiction - May 2004

Interviews with writers Stanislaw Lem, Thomas Harlan, and Neal Stephenson, James Patrick Kelly examines FTL online, a look at the ten best science fiction film directors of all time, and new trailer downloads for Alien vs. Predator, Thunderbirds and I, Robot.

INTERVIEWS

Neal Stephenson Interview
The author of Cryptonomicon and the Baroque Cycle talks about the brighter side of Puritanism, the feud between Newton and Leibniz, and the literary world's grudge against science fiction.

Ben Bova Interview
Ben Bova on his science fiction novels Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.

Terry Bisson Interview
Our Terry chats about why he's really not a satirist.

Firefly Guy
Tim Minear, producer and writer of Firefly, in interview.

Eleanor Arnason Interview
Talks about her Hwarhath and the arguments against heterosexuality.

Chris Barrie Interview
That chap from the TV's Red Dwarf.

Punishing Schedule
John Travolta and writer/director Jonathan Hensleigh interviewed about their new Punisher movie.

Confused? You will be.
Neal Stephenson on his new book, The Confusion (the second part of his Baroque Cycle).

Our Lem
SF writer Stanislaw Lem interviewed.

Harlan on Harlan
Thomas Harlan Interview

It's Hell(boy) Out There
Guillermo del Toro on the new Hellboy movie.

In the Doghouse
Sarah Michelle Gellar on Scooby-Doo 2.

ARTICLES

On the Net: FTL
James Patrick Kelly looks at Faster Than Light drive-related stuff online.

Finn's Wake
Fantasy and academia don't mix,

Siffumhoff
Looks at Seattle's new Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame.

Lost in Spacey
The second annual Spacey Awards, hosted by Canada's sci-fi specialty channel Space: The Imagination Station.

Top 75 Heroines of Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror: Part I
The women who define the SFF genre.

Swim New York
New York's watery new grave.

Magazine Roundup
Locus has a look at all the print magazines doing the rounds at the moment.

Load the Magazine
Roundup of SFF magazines for the month.

The Many Worlds of the Valley
Looks at ConBust, Smith College's annual science fiction and fantasy convention.

The shape of things to come
Why Liverpool has become the international centre for science fiction studies.

SFF Museum Opening
The nation's first museum honoring science fiction is still months away from opening its doors in Seattle.

Paying SFF Homage
Artifacts from The Planet of the Apes find a home at The Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle.

AWARDS

Are you going to the Nebs?
Article on the science-fiction equivalent of the Oscars.

Hugo Hope
Scots writer hopes to emulate Rowling at The Hugo.

T'Pol Wins Spacey Award
'Enterprise' performer is rewarded for her character's appeal for the second year running.

MEDIA

Hey Sexy Mama, Wanna Kill All Humans?
Locus magazine does a Futurama retrospective on everyone's favourite SF toon.

SF Legend Backs 'King Kong' Remake
Ray Bradbury and Ray Harryhausen on the cosmos, craftsmanship and their love for a big ape.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Looks forward to this movie tribute to pulp SFF.

Walking On Water
TNG stars Sirtis and Dorn to appear in new SF movie set in an underwater ghost town.

Spider-Man 2
Alfred Molina on being Doctor Octopus.

Bumping Back
Ron Perlman on his movie role as a Demon rescued from the Nazis and converted into a good guy.

The Ten Best SF Film Directors
Jeremy Adam Smith looks at ten of the best.

Doctor Who and the Fandom of Fear
What happens when fans take over the Doctor Who franchise?

The Movies Films of Hayao Miyazaki
Spirited Away, anyone?

SF on a Shoestring
Can you make a SF movie in Harpenden for a £150,000 budget?

LITERARY

Wonder boy
China Miéville looks at Ted Chiang's Stories of Your Life

Sequential Art
Matthew Peckham looks at the arty side of the comics small-press.

Geeks With Books
Rick Klaw interviews the curator of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Collection at the Cushing Memorial Library at Texas A&M University.

2003 Readers' Choice
Strange Horizons brings you their reading choice for last year.

SHORT FICTION

The Everything Machine
Short fiction by Tim Kenyon

Magic Makeup
Short fiction by Ray Vukcevich

Burn Here With Me
Short fiction by Amy Hembree

The Crimes of Domini Duvall
Short fiction by Eric Brown.

Phlegmatic Planet
Short fiction by Matthew Bey.

TRAILER TRASH

These trailer downloads require multimedia plug-ins such as QuickTime, RealPlayer and the like. Broadband connection recommended.

The Village
18th century Puritan community comes under siege from evil creatures.

Van Helsing
19th century monster hunter needs to kill Dracula, in this movie from the same chap who created The Mummy.

King Arthur
The Round Table fantasy gets another cinematic production.

The Stepford Wives
Kill your wife. Get an android instead.

Sky Captain and The World Of Tomorrow
1930s pulp serials meets 21st century SFX in this fine-looking movie.

Shrek 2
Scottish ogre gets to meet his royal inlaws and mayhem ensues.

The Day After Tomorrow
Eco-thriller SF, as the near future Earth is brought to ruin by super weather, storms, floods and a new ice age.

The Punisher
Marvel Comic's criminal slaying maniac comes to the big screen.

Hellboy
Nazi-fighting demon kicks some German bottom.

Thunderbirds
G-g-g-g-gee Mr Tracy, International Rescue are coming back as a real live action movie.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
The boy wizard is looking a little too grown up, in the 3rd Potter movie.

Spider-Man 2
Doc Octopus replaces the Green Goblin as baddie de jour, in the second Spidey film.

Alien vs. Predator
A rather silly comic-book is made into a - hopefully - less SF silly movie.

Catwoman
Trailer is promised soon for Batman's sensual colleague.

I, Robot
The story that made Asimov famous is given the film treatment. Hopeful? Hmmm. Let's see, shall we.

The Incredibles
Cartoon from Steve Job's lads, when a washed-up old superhero gets a second chance for glory.

CONVENTIONS

Luna Me Sideways
Alexis Gilliland reports on the last Lunacon.

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Dreaming Of The Compass Rose Fantasy author Vera Nazarian is quizzed by our Donna on making the Nebula Award Preliminary Ballot and how she was forced to flee the former Soviet Union during the Cold War. (AUTHOR INTERVIEWS) Out of the Labyrinth Howard Hendrix, author of The Labyrinth Key, on writing historically real characters, the political component of his fiction, and Howard's guide to quantum physics. (AUTHOR INTERVIEWS) Offworld Report: Science fiction - May 2004 Interviews with writers Stanislaw Lem, Thomas Harlan, and Neal Stephenson, James Patrick Kelly examines FTL online, a look at the ten best science fiction film directors of all time, and new trailer downloads for Alien vs. Predator, Thunderbirds and I, Robot. (NEWS) Offworld Report: Weird Science - May 2004 Exploiting the resources of the solar system, the U.S. army's next generation of robot soldiers, cloning your nearest and dearest, new developments in gravitational microlensing, and does methane on Mars equal the existence of primitive life? (NEWS) Hellboy (Frank reviews) Franks discovers that in director Guillermo Del Toro’s fantasy actioner Hellboy, there’s nothing generic or artificial about the movie's flame-throwing crusader determined to stamp out evil at any cost. (FILM REVIEWS) Hellboy (Mark reviews) Mike Mignola's comic book character Hellboy comes to the screen in high visual style but none too coherently. Our Mark considers that Guillermo del Toro does a better job directing than adapting this story from graphic novel to screen. (FILM REVIEWS) Kill Bill Volume Two The follow up installment of Tarantino’s ridiculously sensationalistic sword slashing cinema is welcomed by Frank with eager open arms. (FILM REVIEWS) Dawn of the Dead Frank sits down to watch Zack Snyder’s surprisingly winning remake of the flesh-eating fable Dawn of the Dead. (FILM REVIEWS) Cody Banks 2: Destination London The misguided adventures of the awkward junior secret agent continue in the mind numbing and anemic sequel Cody Banks 2: Destination London. Quite frankly, Frank reckons that Cody & company need to consider quitting the spy business altogether. (FILM REVIEWS) Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed America’s favorite cowardly canine and his crime-fighting cohorts are back for round two in the meager follow-up film, Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. They would have got away with it too, if it wasn't for you damn meddling cinema goers! (FILM REVIEWS) RSS and Science Fiction: The Definitive Guide There's a whole new universe opening up online for the SFF genre using the Internet's new RSS technology. But what the heck is RSS, how do you get it, and why should you care? (ARTICLES) Adolf Hitler: Man or Myth? Scots SFF author Ken MacLeod thinks it's time for the British to blush, as a new survey reveals that large swathes of the UK's population think Conan was real and The War of the Worlds, H.G. Wells's fictional account of a Martian invasion, actually happened. (COMMENT)

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