Nov 1, 2011

Cover art for John Scalzi's Redshirts



Via A Dribble of Ink

I have been meaning to read something by Scalzi for a while now, and Redshirts seems just the thing. The cover is absolutely fantastic, evoking just the right blend of geekiness and 60s style SF.

Also, alternative covers, courtesy of Tor:


Oct 31, 2011

George Martin's Wild Cards to be turned into a movie?



Via Not a Blog

Great news for Wild Cards fans! We have just closed a deal with SyFy Films, a brand new joint venture of Universal Pictures and the SyFy Channel, for film and television rights to the Wild Cards series of mosaic novels and shared world anthologies.

You can read all the details in THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.

The plan is to begin with a Wild Cards feature film, for theatrical release. If that's successful, more features and a television series may follow.

Melinda Snodgrass will write the screenplay. Part of the series since the very start, Melinda has been my assistant editor on most volumes of Wild Cards, and is the creator of many of the series most popular and iconic characters, including Dr. Tachyon and Double Helix. Snod will also serve as an executive producer on the film, as will I.

Further details will need to wait until we're a little further along in development, but I think I speak for all the writers in the Wild Cards Consortium, both new and old, when I say that we're jazzed. We look forward to working with Gregory Noveck and his great team at SyFy Films, and to bringing some of your favorite Wild Cards characters to the screen.

I haven't read anything Wild Cards related yet, but I've been curious for a while, so this is a good incentive to get on with it.

World Fantasy Award winners

BEST NOVEL

Winner: Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okorafor (DAW)

- Zoo City, Lauren Beukes (Jacana South Africa; Angry Robot)
- The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)
- The Silent Land, Graham Joyce (Gollancz; Doubleday)
- Under Heaven, Guy Gavriel Kay (Viking Canada; Roc; Harper Voyager UK)
- Redemption In Indigo, Karen Lord (Small Beer)

BEST NOVELLA

Winner: “The Maiden Flight of McCauley’s Bellerophon,” Elizabeth Hand (Stories: All-New Tales)

- Bone and Jewel Creatures, Elizabeth Bear (Subterranean)
- The Broken Man, Michael Byers (PS)
- The Thief of Broken Toys, Tim Lebbon (ChiZine)
- “The Mystery Knight,” George R.R. Martin (Warriors)
- “The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers beneath the Queen’s Window,” Rachel Swirsky (Subterranean Summer 2010)

BEST SHORT FICTION

Winner: “Fossil-Figures,” Joyce Carol Oates (Stories: All-New Tales)

- “Beautiful Men,” Christopher Fowler (Visitants: Stories of Fallen Angels and Heavenly Hosts)
- “Booth’s Ghost,” Karen Joy Fowler (What I Didn’t See and Other Stories)
- “Ponies,” Kij Johnson (Tor.com 11/17/10)
- “Tu Sufrimiento Shall Protect Us,” Mercurio D. Rivera (Black Static 8-9/10)

BEST ANTHOLOGY

Winner: My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me, Kate Bernheimer, ed. (Penguin)

- The Way of the Wizard, John Joseph Adams, ed. (Prime)
- Haunted Legends, Ellen Datlow & Nick Mamatas, eds. (Tor)
- Stories: All-New Tales, Neil Gaiman & Al Sarrantonio, eds. (Morrow; Headline Review)
- Black Wings: New Tales of Lovecraftian Horror, S.T. Joshi, ed. (PS)
- Swords & Dark Magic, Jonathan Strahan & Lou Anders, eds. (Eos)

BEST COLLECTION

Winner: What I Didn’t See and Other Stories, Karen Joy Fowler (Small Beer)

- The Ammonite Violin & Others, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Subterranean)
- Holiday, M. Rickert (Golden Gryphon)
- Sourdough and Other Stories, Angela Slatter (Tartarus)
- The Third Bear, Jeff VanderMeer (Tachyon)

BEST ARTIST

Winner: Kinuko Y. Craft

- Vincent Chong
- Richard A. Kirk
- John Picacio
- Shaun Tan

SPECIAL AWARD, PROFESSIONAL

Winner: Marc Gascoigne, for Angry Robot

- John Joseph Adams, for editing and anthologies
- Lou Anders, for editing at Pyr
- Stéphane Marsan & Alain Névant, for Bragelonne
- Brett Alexander Savory & Sandra Kasturi, for ChiZine

SPECIAL AWARD, NON-PROFESSIONAL

Winner: Alisa Krasnostein, for Twelfth Planet Press

- Stephen Jones, Michael Marshall Smith, & Amanda Foubister, for Brighton Shock!: The Souvenir Book Of The World Horror Convention 2010
- Matthew Kressel, for Sybil’s Garage and Senses Five Press
- Charles Tan, for Bibliophile Stalker
- Lavie Tidhar, for The World SF Blog

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As usual, I've read nothing of those titles, and as usual the nominations seem incredibly weird to me, but I guess congrats to the winners all the same.

Oct 23, 2011

Cover art for Subterranean's edition of Brent Weeks' Perfect Shadow



Perfect Shadow is an eBook novella set in Weeks' Night Angel world, and now Subterranean is releasing it in limited edition form. Raymond Swanland's art is absolutely gorgeous. It almost makes me want to buy it, even though I haven't read any of Weeks' work yet.


In other news, sorry for the lapse in posting. Life has been hectic and there hasn't been anything major enough to post about. Will do better, promise!

Oct 2, 2011

Artwork and sinopses for two Daniel Abraham books

Via A Dribble of Ink



War casts its shadow over the lands that the dragons once ruled. Only the courage of a young woman with the mind of a gambler and loyalty to no one stands between hope and universal darkness.

The high and powerful will fall, the despised and broken shall rise up, and everything will be remade. And quietly, almost beneath the notice of anyone, an old, broken-hearted warrior and an apostate priest will begin a terrible journey with an impossible goal: destroy a Goddess before she eats the world.




We are not alone.

The alien protomolecule is clear evidence of an intelligence beyond human reckoning. No one knows what exactly is being built on Venus, but whatever it is, it is vast, powerful, and terrifying.

When a creature of unknown origin and seemingly impossible physiology attacks soldiers on Ganymede, the fragile balance of power in the Solar System shatters. Now, the race is on to discover if the protomolecule has escaped Venus, or if someone is building an army of super-soldiers.

Jim Holden is the center of it all. In spite of everything, he’s still the best man for the job to find out what happened on Ganymede. Either way, the protomolecule is loose and Holden must find a way to stop it before war engulfs the entire system.

CALIBAN’S WAR is an action-packed space adventure following in the footsteps of the critically acclaimed Leviathan Wakes.


The second Dagger and Coin novel and Leviathan Wakes' sequel. Both covers are not finalized, but I think they both look awesome! Haven't read the first part of either series though, so can't get excited yet.

Sep 28, 2011

A Game of Thrones comic book series, Issue 1



The first issue of the comic book adaptation of George Martin's A Game of Thrones is now out. The mini-series will come out on a monthly basis, and be followed by a new title for every separate book.

Personally, I wasn't impressed. The words are good - Daniel Abraham's done a great adaptation, using exactly the necessary amount of description and dialogue, with only a few instances of added information, when the dialogue would not be enough to present the information that the reader would otherwise read in the novel.




Problem is, I've already read the novel - and more than once - so the only thing the adaptation can offer me are the visuals. And they are... bland. I have never been impressed with Tommy Patterson's art, and it is nothing to write home about here either. The pouty overly pretty and wavy-haired characters would be much more in place in a teenage girl comic book, and the color scheme - done by Ivan Nunes - is entirely too bright. The comic book is definitely not ugly, but it is also nowhere near the style that I think would suit Martin's gritty world best.

And, sadly, the story shows early signs of PG13-ness. Even though the first issue goes only as far as Daenerys' first meeting with Khal Drogo, there is at least one instance of nudity and borderline sexual cruelty that has been cut. And honestly, A Game of Thrones without the realism, sex, violence and dark visuals doesn't seem like much fun now, does it?

Still, I'll follow the series. Who knows, it might grow on me...

6/10

Sep 26, 2011

New UK cover art for Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt





Via The Wertzone.

Apparently Tor UK will publish those new covers next year. I am not sure I like them. They are flashy, but the character arts are a bit kitsch. And as usual no recognizable characters could be discerned. The artists keep making everyone in Tchaikovsky's world look like a Marvel Comics superhero alien elf robot...

Game of Thrones Season 2: First set photos



Here
are the first set photos for Season 2 of Game of Thrones. Not that there is anything spectacular to see, but it's nice to know progress is being made.

Sep 19, 2011

Peter Dinklage wins the Emmy!



Congrats to Peter Dinklage who won the Emmy for Supporting Actor in Drama for his role as Tyrion Lannister in HBO's Game of Thrones! He more than deserved to win, and I am also happy that a fantasy show gets recognition through the guy.

Sep 14, 2011

Game of Thrones Season 2 casting: part 11



Ian Whyte has replaced Conan Stevens as Gregor Clegane, a.k.a. The Mountain. It seems Stevens had too many scheduling conflicts (including a role in The Hobbit and a recurring one in Spartacus). Now, I can't predict if Whyte will play the role better, but he is freakishly tall, so I guess that's ok...




Fintan McKeown is Ser Amory Lorch - one of the Lannisters' most vicious knights. McKeown has the face to pull it off, but this is yet another character that will probably not have more than a total of 7 minutes of screen time in the season.