Sci-Fi Storm

AudioFlix writes “Portland, OR – AudioFlix LLC is excited to announce that the first 5 chapters of the ARCTIC INVASION audio program are now available in disk format. Aptly named “Arctic Invasion – Disk 1” and now available at Amazon.com , the disk represents the first 5 weeks of the original online story released early this year. The second disk will combine the remaining 6 chapters and is expected out just in time for the upcoming holiday season. Eleven chapters long and feature-length, the entire story tells of arctic soldier Shawna Birdette and her fight to save humanity from an invading alien army located deep beneath the Antarctic ice shelf. Check out AudioFlix.com (http://www.audioflix.com/home.html) for samples and previews!”

It’s kind of out there, and kind of unlikely, but IGN is reporting that J.J. Abrams has been wooing Tom Cruise to play a bit part in Star Trek XI as a younger Captain Christopher Pike, Jim Kirk’s predecessor in the center seat on the Enterprise. Strangely, I think he looks enough like Jeffrey Hunter, who played Pike in the original pilot episode, “The Cage”, that it could be pulled off. Of course, they’d need to make him look at least a foot taller…

Anonymous Coward writes “David G. Hartwell, editor of The New York Review of Science Fiction and The Space Opera Renaissance, senior editor of Tor/Forge Books gives an interview on the topic of Space Westerns.

http://www.spacewesterns.com/articles/19/“

TheThunderChild writes “There are two new book reviews at The Thunder Child: a new release The Heart of Mars by Chuck Rosenthal, and a retro review of Raptor Red, by Robert T. Bakker. The publisher’s blurb for The Heart of Mars exclaims “Horses on Mars,” and horses are featured on the cover as well, but this really gives a misleading idea of what this wonderful, poetic and poignant novel is about. An amphibian race called the Nutian have Returned to Earth and taken over, saving the remnants of the humans who survived global warming and global war, but history (not to mention literature) is repeating itself on Mars… Paleontologist Robert Bakker, who was the model for Michael Crichton’s character Alan Grant in Jurassic Park, and a proponent that birds are descended from dinosaurs, wrote his first fiction novel over a decade ago, about a Utahraptor he calls Raptor Red. Check out both reviews at http://thethunderchild.com“

Masters of Science Fiction starts airing on ABC at 10pm this Saturday (August 4th). ABC thinks the show is “too artistic” for television – lets show them we want artistry and get the ratings up there – maybe we can at least see the two episodes they don’t plan to show…

I got to watch Order of the Phoenix a second time this weekend, this
time in IMAX with the entire climactic battle shown in 3D, which was done
very well and was totally cool. So here is a bit of a review (relatively
spoiler free) for the 5th movie installment of the series.

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The Dark is Rising, the Newbery winning novel turned feature film, is getting a bit of a name change. Now referred to as The Seeker: The Dark is Rising, it involves a boy (Alexander Ludwig, The Sandlot 3) who finds out that he is The Seeker, the last of a group of immortals dedicated to fighting evil forces. Also starring are Ian McShane (Deadwood) as Merriman Lyon and Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who) as the Dark Rider. The movie is due out in October. I sense the name change is in anticipation of sequels…

A Collector’s Edition version of Serenity will be released on DVD on August 21st. Some of the added features are extended scenes and a number of featurettes featuring the cast and crew.

william meikle writes “The perfect cure for anybody suffering from Harry Potter withdrawal is now here.

GENERATIONS, a new novel by Scottish author William Meikle, provides action, adventure, brave teenagers, eccentric adults, and a whole array of magical beasts that must be destroyed…. or befriended.

The book is published by Anglo-Spanish publisher Libros International.

ISBN: 1905988230 , 220pp, RRP ?6.99

Tom wants to see a dragon. And his Grandad wants to make one. But neither of them are prepared for the consequences when they accidentally spill Grandad’s special growth formula on the ground.” Read More for more info. This title is also available in the U.S. from Amazon.com.

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