sfsignal

Meta-Signal
About Us
Email us or chat with us
Add us to Google Toolbar
SF/F Author Blogs
Books Received
Submissions
Review Policies
Gaming Signal
News Feeds
Add to Google Entries
Add to Google Commments

Subscribe with FeedBurner
Search

Poll
Which of these is your favorite Tim Burton film?
Frankenweenie (1984)
Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)
Beetle Juice (1988)
Batman (1989)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Batman Returns (1992)
Mars Attacks! (1996)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Planet of the Apes (2001)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
Corpse Bride (2005)
Other (tell us by commenting after voting)

       
You may comment after voting. Results posted every Monday. Check back for discussion and a new poll!

Suggest a poll
Recent Comments
How To Read a Book A Day [13]
MIND MELD: Young Adult SF/F Books That Adults Will Like, Too [11]
Superman: "Mechanical Monsters" (Pop-up Version) [3]
SF Tidbits for 5/14/08 [1]
SF Tidbits for 5/13/08 [3]
Tube Bits For 05/12/2008 [1]
REVIEW: Midnighters #1 - The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld [6]
Foundation: The Movie [48]
Tube Bits for 05/05/2008 [3]
POLL RESULTS: Marketing Young Adult SF/F [2]
Who's the Best Joker? [26]
A Question For The Geniuses At SciFi [5]
Past Ramblings
Hollywood and SF
Eye Boobies!
How To Stay Alone
How cool is this?
POLL RESULTS: Buying a Book From a Vending Machine
POLL RESULTS: Reading Harry Potter
Another SF Blog
REVIEW: Evening's Empire
SF Tidbits for 11/1/07
Top 10 Sci-Fi/Fantasy Movies Lists
Categories
Anime
Awards
Battlestar Galactica
Bionic Woman
Book Review
Books
Computers
Cthulhu
Eureka
Events
Firefly
Games
Heroes
Humor
Interviews
LOST
Meta
Mind Meld
Movies
Music
Polls
Science and Technology
Space
Star Trek
Star Wars
Tidbits
Tube Bits
TV
Web Sites
Archives
All
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
May 2004
April 2004
March 2004
February 2004
January 2004
December 2003
November 2003
October 2003
September 2003
August 2003
July 2003
Visitor Maps

Stick a pin on our Frappr map!
Recent Comments
How To Read a Book A Day [13]
MIND MELD: Young Adult SF/F Books That Adults Will Like, Too [11]
Superman: "Mechanical Monsters" (Pop-up Version) [3]
SF Tidbits for 5/14/08 [1]
SF Tidbits for 5/13/08 [3]
Tube Bits For 05/12/2008 [1]
REVIEW: Midnighters #1 - The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld [6]
Foundation: The Movie [48]
Tube Bits for 05/05/2008 [3]
POLL RESULTS: Marketing Young Adult SF/F [2]
Who's the Best Joker? [26]
A Question For The Geniuses At SciFi [5]
Wednesday May 14, 2008

MIND MELD: Young Adult SF/F Books That Adults Will Like, Too

Young Adult fiction is a hot topic at the moment, mostly brought on by John Scalzi's recent post about YA genre classification. He mentions that some adult readers overlook YA sf/f, but some YA books may be equally enjoyed by even the most discerning adult reader. So we asked some folks:

Q: Which young adult sf/f titles, if any, would you recommend to an adult reader who would not otherwise consider reading YA fiction because they think it's only suitable for kids?


For what it's worth, the recommendation at the front of my mind (probably because I just read it) would be Cory Doctorow's Little Brother. And I wasn't the only one...

Read on to see how our esteemed panel responded. And be sure to offer up your own suggestions!

John Scalzi
John Scalzi believes immersing one's self daily in a vat of hand sanitizer will wash away all of one's sins. And also, some dirt.
I think it's no secret I'm a big fan of Scott Westerfeld's work, but rather than recommend Scott's wildly successful Uglies series, which really doesn't need any more help, let me give a shoutout to one of his other books, Peeps. These days there are more "vampire reboot" sort of books than any one planet actually needs, but what makes Peeps worth the time is both the plot, and the every-other-chapter digressions into parasitology that actually manage to dovetail into the story Scott is telling. It's clever, it's exciting, and it's good, and if you were handed the book without knowing where in the bookstore it was shelved, you wouldn't know or care that it was YA.


Beyond this, my recommendation for titles is for adult readers to go into the YA section and do what they do in every other section of the bookstore: browse, damn it. Look at the covers and the jacket copy and maybe read a little of the book and just see if the book looks interesting to you. Oddly enough, it works as well in the YA section as it does everywhere else. Alternately, go to the library and ask the YA librarian to suggest some title. Oh, go on, you baby. You won't be the first adult she's recommended a YA book to in her life.

Read more...

Share: | Discussion (11) | PermaLink | Posted by John at 12:29 AM | Category: Mind Meld




Jeopardy 1999

From a 1979 SNL skit...


[via Paleo-Future]

Share: | Discussion (0) | PermaLink | Posted by John at 12:22 AM | Category: Humor, TV


SF Tidbits for 5/14/08

Share: | Discussion (1) | PermaLink | Posted by John at 12:06 AM | Category: Tidbits




Tuesday May 13, 2008

Superman: "Mechanical Monsters" (Pop-up Version)

Ideas I wish I thought of #317: Pop-up videos. Cool trivia and baseline humor...what a great combination!

"Mechanical Monsters" was inspiration for Kerry Conran's Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. I can certainly see the similarities...

[via Milk and Cookies]

Share: | Discussion (3) | PermaLink | Posted by John at 12:45 PM | Category: TV


Tuesday YouTube: Stanislaw Lem

A short movie about Stanislaw Lem, author of Solaris, The Cyberiad, and Tales of Pirx the Pilot.


[via Divers and Sundry]

Share: | Discussion (0) | PermaLink | Posted by John at 12:08 AM | Category: Books


SF Tidbits for 5/13/08

Share: | Discussion (3) | PermaLink | Posted by John at 12:04 AM | Category: Tidbits




Monday May 12, 2008

REVIEW: Little Brother by Cory Doctorow


REVIEW SUMMARY: A great example of a "Young Adult" book that adults can thoroughly enjoy. Also serves as a great candidate to get teens hooked on science fiction.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Teenage hacker Marcus Yallow takes on the Department of Homeland Security after being falsely connected with a terrorist attack.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Gripping story; conveys the coolness of technology; thought-provoking issues about surveillance and freedom.
CONS: Story periodically stops for infodumps although, to be fair, they are necessary and entertaining.
BOTTOM LINE: A captivating book for readers of any age.

Cory Doctorow's Little Brother is being met with lots of praise, and I was curious to see if it was justified. I went in with a little skepticism, but I have to say, this book quickly won me over. What I find interesting, though not surprising, is that the book is being marketed as young adult fiction yet it is easily as entertaining for adults.

Read more...

Share: | Discussion (1) | PermaLink | Posted by John at 12:29 AM | Category: Book Review


Tube Bits For 05/12/2008

Share: | Discussion (1) | PermaLink | Posted by JP at 12:14 AM | Category: Tube Bits


SF Tidbits for 5/12/08

Share: | Discussion (0) | PermaLink | Posted by John at 12:09 AM | Category: Tidbits


POLL RESULTS: Marketing Young Adult SF/F
Here are the results of the latest SF Signal poll.

QUESTION
Are publishers cashing in on the young adult craze by marketing adult sf/f to young adults?

RESULTS
(60 total votes)
Yikes! Participation was down by 50% this week. I guess YA fiction is not popular with our readers?

Just a couple of comments this week...
"It's not just SF, though. There are a number of raunchy books out there being called YA when they're far from it." - Chris

"I hope that these publishers publish an author's work based upon the author's intended audience and not what audience the publishers think the book is suited for. It's kind of like Hollywood actors being typecast." - Jim Shannon
Be sure to visit our front page and vote in this week's poll about your favorite Tim Burton film!

Share: | Discussion (2) | PermaLink | Posted by John at 12:00 AM | Category: Polls




Sunday May 11, 2008

Sunday YouTube: Joe Haldeman @ Google

From November 2007, Hugo-winner Joe Haldeman reads from The Accidental Time Machine as part of the Authors@Google series.

Share: | Discussion (0) | PermaLink | Posted by John at 12:15 AM | Category: Books


SF Tidbits for 5/11/08

Share: | Discussion (0) | PermaLink | Posted by John at 12:00 AM | Category: Tidbits




Saturday May 10, 2008

SF Tidbits for 5/10/08

Share: | Discussion (0) | PermaLink | Posted by John at 12:10 AM | Category: Tidbits




Friday May 09, 2008

This Week's Freebies from Tor


Tor's latest batch of freebies includes:

They're only available for one week, so don't wait to snag 'em.

Share: | Discussion (1) | PermaLink | Posted by John at 12:22 PM | Category: Books


Arthur C. Clarke Reads From 2001: A Space Odyssey


This is but one reason why The Zombie Astronaut rocks.

Yesterday he posted a trio of MP3s recordeed from a 1976 LP. (That would be a giant, black cd-looking thing with grooves to anyone who was born in the 80's or later.) The LP is 2001: A Space Odyssey, the final chapters read by Arthur C. Clarke.

To hear Clarke utter "My God. It's full of stars!" was chilling and bittersweet.

Go forth and listen.

Share: | Discussion (0) | PermaLink | Posted by John at 12:29 AM | Category: Books


Friday YouTube: The 1975 Ghost Busters Title Sequence

This blog hasn't got nearly enough Larry Storch, a problem I am correcting right here, right now.

I guess Ken Berry was too MacLaen-Stevenson-popular to complete the F-Troop reunion..
[via Cynical-C Blog]

Share: | Discussion (2) | PermaLink | Posted by John at 12:21 AM | Category: TV


Tube Bits for 05/09/2008

Share: | Discussion (1) | PermaLink | Posted by JP at 12:10 AM | Category: Tube Bits


SF Tidbits for 5/9/08

Share: | Discussion (1) | PermaLink | Posted by John at 12:05 AM | Category: Tidbits




Thursday May 08, 2008

MIND MELD: Stories Hollywood Should Film

This year's summer movie slate is full of sequels and remakes of existing properties. As science fiction/fantasy fans we know there is a wealth of written material that deserves to appear on the big screen or on TV. The recent news that Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos is being adapted for the silver screen is welcome, even as we're sceptical about the final result. Our question this week:

Q: What other story, or stories, do you believe are deserving of being made into movies and why?
Peggy Kolm
Peggy Kolm is a science fiction fan who can be found, blogging, at the Biology in Science Fiction website.
I like Dune as much as the next science fiction fan, but I find it disappointing that Hollywood keeps remaking the same stories instead of tapping into the wealth of science fiction literature. I'm not sure that every story can be easily translated into film, particularly if it features many non-humanoid or posthuman characters. I also think that there is a glut of action thrillers and SF-horror movies. Keeping that in mind, here are a few SF stories that I'd like to see on the big screen:

- I think Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash could make a brilliant movie, if a screenwriter could be found who could pare the plot down to feature film length without eliminating the humor. What makes it enjoyable to me is that the over-the-top characters and settings - the reluctant hero Hiro, who is an excellent swordsman in both the real world and online, the badass teenaged skateboard messenger, the evangelist who wants to take over the world through speaking in tongues, the mafia-run pizza delivery business, the decaying crowded freeways, tacky strip malls and gated 'burbs covering Southern California, the giant "raft" of refugee boats drifting along the coast - seem almost plausible. And of course there is the appeal of the Metaverse itself, where computer geeks can don an avatar of their own creation and are at the top of the social hierarchy.

- Connie Willis's time travel novels are among my favorites, so I'd love to see them made into movies. The Doomsday Book would make a moving drama, with its contrast between young historian Kivrin's experiences in the medieval village beset by plague, and her colleagues fighting the influenza epidemic in future Oxford. The ending is probably not upbeat enough for a commercial SF movie, though. On the other hand, I think Willis's much lighter time travel comedy of errors, To Say Nothing of the Dog, could be fun light entertainment. I like to imagine it filmed in the style of a Merchant-Ivory production (maybe my fondness for period pieces makes me different from the "average" SF fan, though).

- The theme of environmental destruction in Kate Wilhelm's Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang is as timely today as it was in the 1970s, as are the issues surrounding the ethics and technical limitations of cloning. While the multigenerational scope of the novel is probably too broad for a single movie, I think that it would work to focus the story on Mark, one of the few "singletons" in the survivalist colony of clones .

- My choice for an outer space flick would be Frederick Pohl's Gateway. It's got dangerous exploration of space and unknown worlds, flawed main characters, tense interpersonal relationships in the close quarters of the alien asteroid spaceport and, and, of course it the dramatic ending with the characters' ships trapped by a black hole. While the novel doesn't really have a feel-good ending, it could be combined with "Heechee Rendezvous" to provide a happy resolution to the story.

- Finally, my nostalgic entry is Alexei Panshin's Rite of Passage. It features a teenaged girl whose coming of age story involves the development of both physical and mental toughness as she fights to survive on an unfamiliar planet. Perhaps it is out of date now, considering it was published 40 years ago, but I include it in my list because it made a big impact on me when I read it as a 13-year-old. It was the first (and one of the few) SF book I read that featured the heroics of a girl, and it will always hold a special place in my heart.

- I was going to also suggest Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama, but a search turned up that it's already in the process of being made into film by Morgan Freeman's production company. I'm looking forward to it.

I actually think that many SF novels can only be faithfully reproduced as miniseries, rather than 90 minute moves. That doesn't mean that SF novel-based movies aren't possible, but that they are necessarily something different than the original. Bladerunner is a great film, but it's only loosely based on Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. It's not just that typical SF stories are sprawling in time and space, but that the speculative part of the speculative fiction is usually cut in favor of action. Personally, I would love to see the SciFi channel produce more original miniseries based on classic SF, rather than filling up their schedule with ghost buster "reality" shows and wrestling, but I'm not holding my breath.

Read more...

Share: | Discussion (15) | PermaLink | Posted by JP at 12:29 AM | Category: Mind Meld


REVIEW: An Idle King by J.W. Benford


REVIEW SUMMARY: A new author does well in some areas but overall comes up a bit short.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Michael is kidnapped and taken into the future, where he finds himself embroiled in an interplanetary civil war. But things aren't as simple as they appear, as Michael's past starts to catch up to him in the future.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Good small-group action sequences and interesting characters that change throughout the book. Middle section was highly enjoyable.
CONS: Writing is challenged at the beginning with text that was hard to read. Ending struggled with a space opera flavor that didn't work.
BOTTOM LINE: This book by first-time author J.W. Benford is a book I really wanted to like, however there are enough flaws that keep it from being a book I think will have broad appeal. I am looking forward to future efforts by this talented writer.

Read more...

Share: | Discussion (2) | PermaLink | Posted by scottsh at 12:23 AM | Category: Book Review


Thursday YouTube: Iron Sky Trailer

Space Nazis!

"In 1945 the Nazis went to the moon. In 2018 they are coming back."

That''s the tag line for Iron Sky, we posted about last October. But there's new buzz as this trailer is making its way around. Like Jayme, I'm lovin' the Sky Captain look.

Share: