Sci-Fi Storm

The trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is now available online via the official web site.

BaronMoritani writes ” Since the Santa Cruz, California booksigning for Dune prequel authors Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson was changed at the last minute, Byron Merritt, fellow author and grandson to the late Frank Herbert, was asked to help prepare the Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson booksigning.

The booksigning was rescheduled due to Amtrak delays, and finally took place on Sunday, September 22nd.

Mr. Merritt writes, “It was packed! Standing room only! So….your’s truly stepped up to the microphone and introduced Brian and Kevin!”

News update along with pictures of the booksigning is here:
http://groups.msn.com/TheLandsraad/_whatsnew.msnw

Thanks to Byron Merritt for the update and great luck to him with his new novel Monterey Shorts!”

Michael Crichton, author or The Andromeda Strain and Jurrasic Park and creator of the hit series er, was tied up and robbed at gunpoint by two men on 9/23. Some items were taken, but not a lot of information has been released yet.

Just a friendly reminder of the genre shows premiering this week, all times Eastern: Tonight (Tuesday 9/24) you’ve got Buffy the Vampire Slayer at 8pm (UPN) and then the new Haunted (UPN) dukes it out with Smallville (WB) at 9pm. On Friday (9/27) a man goes back to his childhood in That Was Then (ABC 9pm). And don’t forget that next week the syndicated series’ Andromeda and Mutant X premiere – check your local listings.

Dr. Robert L. Forward, Physicist and SF author, died on Saturday 9/21 at the age of 70. He’s known as a pioneer in the field of gravitational radiation astronomy, and as a “hard” SF author in which he “taught” physics through storytelling. His best-known work was Dragon’s Egg. You can read his self-prepared obituary.

A reminder about the SF video releases this week – Lexx Series 3 Volume 4 is up on Tuesday, as is the somewhat-expensive Space: 1999 Mega Set – but hey, it’s 16 DVDs featuring ALL the episodes plus extras. Up next week is the complete Doctor Who: Key to Time Gift Set, along with the individual episodic DVDs. See the Sci-Fi TV Store for a complete listing.

A federal court in New York, hearing the case of Nancy Stouffer’s lawsuit against J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Press, and Warner Brothers over the “theft” of the term “Muggles” and other things, has thrown out the case – and apparently given Ms. Stouffer a bit of the smackdown. The court ruled not only against her, but that she lied and doctored evidence, fining her $50,000 and ordered to pay partial court costs of the defendants.

I haven’t heard much on the proposed Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy feature since the death of original author Douglas Adams, but apparently it is moving forward, with Karey Kirkpatrick (Chicken Run) helping to adapt the screenplay and Jay Roach (Austin Powers) directing, and a posthumous production award to Adams.

jutulen writes “Episode II is coming to the BIG screen, as in IMAX! According to SciFiWire about 70 IMAX theaters in the U.S. will show EPII starting Nov.1.” Just caught this on CNN.com myself. Alas, the two theaters in my area know nothing about it yet.

Update 9/17: Maybe I will see it – the web site for the IMAX Theater at Jordan’s Funiture (one of my local screens) at least has under their Latest News section about the remastering – and that its 20 minutes shorter than the original theatrical cut, apparently because most IMAX systems can’t hold more than 120 minutes of film.

Your friendly service reminder: Enterprise kicks off its second season this Wednesday at 8pm ET on UPN with the conclusion to the season-ending cliffhander “Shockwave”, and the new Joss Whedon creation Firefly takes off this Friday on FOX at 8pm ET.

Update: Oops…forgot UPN’s version of The Twilight Zone, this Wednesday after Enterprise.