This week on the radio show Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me there was a segment that suggested classic books that would be turned into video games after noting that Dante's Inferno was coming out soon. Here is a list of the ones they came up with.
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Posted by Scott Shaffer at Monday February 08, 2010 at 11:29 AM
As before, here are my quick takes on the genre-related films I've watched in the last several weeks...
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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday February 08, 2010 at 12:25 AM
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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday February 08, 2010 at 12:20 AM
The table of contents for the NewCon Press sf anthology Conflicts edited Ian Whates has been posted. It contains "thirteen tales of human striving, of ingenuity, brilliance, desperate action, violence, and resolution." It will be available on April 2nd, 2010.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday February 08, 2010 at 12:15 AM
From YouTube: "Have you ever wondered what the original Star Wars would have been like if Quentin Tarantino had animated it on a Macintosh computer?"
Interesting take on Leia's metal bikini...
[via J.M. McDermott]
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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday February 08, 2010 at 12:13 AM
Just a quick reminder for two giveaways that are ending tonight.
We have a copy of the Nintendo DS/DSi game Daniel X: The Ultimate Power plus we've also added a copy of James Patterson's book Daniel X Watch The Skies for the lucky winner. If you're interested, the original post has all the details. This contest ends tonight at 12pm CT so hurry if you want to enter!
Second we are giving away a Blu-ray and a DVD copy of the latest Jean-Claude Van Damme movie Universal Soldier: Regeneration. Again, all the details are in the original post. This contest ends this Wednesday, Feb. 10th.
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Posted by JP Frantz at Monday February 08, 2010 at 12:12 AM
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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday February 08, 2010 at 12:11 AM
The winners of our Rocket Boy and the Geek Girls eBook giveaway have been notified. They are:
Thanks to everyone who entered.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday February 08, 2010 at 12:10 AM
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Posted by Charles Tan at Monday February 08, 2010 at 12:05 AM
Sad news...
The Official Home Page of Science Fiction Writer William Tenn is reporting that Philip Klass (who wrote as William Tenn) died on Sunday, February 7, 2010 at age 89.
Klass only wrote one fiction novel (Of Men and Monsters) but was a prolific short story writer whose work was recently collected by NESFA Press in the three volumes Immodest Proposals, Here Comes Civilization and Dancing Naked.
[via Renovationsf]
See also:
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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday February 07, 2010 at 3:02 PM
Minority Report -- based on the Philip K. Dick short story and starring Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, and Max von Sydow -- is one of my favorite films...
[via Classic SciFi Channel]
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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday February 07, 2010 at 12:25 AM
At an AggieCon panel this weekend, panelists Ellen Datlow, Scott Cupp and Jayme Lynn Blaschke named an excellent selection of books released last year that are more than worth a look. (I hope I captured them all!)
Read more...
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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday February 07, 2010 at 12:15 AM
News
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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday February 07, 2010 at 12:05 AM
Here's a simple Meme...answer the following questions:
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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday February 06, 2010 at 12:29 AM

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday February 06, 2010 at 12:20 AM
A Dark Matter by Peter Straub hits bookstores next week.
he charismatic and cunning Spenser Mallon is a campus guru in the 1960s, attracting the devotion and demanding sexual favors of his young acolytes. After he invites his most fervent followers to attend a secret ritual in a local meadow, the only thing that remains is a gruesomely dismembered body--and the shattered souls of all who were present.Here's the trailer... Read more...Years later, one man attempts to understand what happened to his wife and to his friends by writing a book about this horrible night, and it's through this process that they begin to examine the unspeakable events that have bound them in ways they cannot fathom, but that have haunted every one of them through their lives. As each of the old friends tries to come to grips with the darkness of the past, they find themselves face-to-face with the evil triggered so many years earlier. Unfolding through the individual stories of the fated group's members, A Dark Matter is an electric, chilling, and unpredictable novel that will satisfy Peter Straub's many ardent fans, and win him legions more.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday February 06, 2010 at 12:12 AM
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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday February 06, 2010 at 12:05 AM
[Voice Of The Fans is a weekly feature on SF Signal where we post an interesting item, handcrafted by the Secret Masters of Fandom, specifically for the fans of science fiction and fantasy to voice their opinions and be heard. If you have a topic (and incidentally be inducted into the SMOF via an embarrassing yet strangely compelling secret ceremony), drop us a line at voice (at) sfsignal (dot) com.]
WARNING: There will be spoilers below, if you haven't seen the latest episode, or want to stay otherwise unspoiled, read no further!
The greatest SF show currently on TV began its final season this past Tuesday. In case the post title didn't give it away, I'm speaking of LOST,of course! Sure it was slow to start, with the SF elements safely tucked away and only hinted at, but by the middle of the third season LOST cranked up the science fiction to 11. Not just content with someone's consciousness cavorting up and down the time stream, the writers have given also given us time skipping heroes, vanishing islands and much, much more, culminating in this seasons dueling realities, plus smoke monster!
I'm very curious and a wee bit excited to see where the LOST story will end up. Which is where you come in. What do you think will happen at the end of LOST? Will the realities merge to form a new one or they will they be destined to duke it out a la Fringe?
One thing I know for certain: I'll be very sad to see LOST hang it up. It's been a constant for me for the past six years and it's only gotten better the past two and a half season. I'm confident it will end on a high and not disappoint. Although, if the writers could find some way to use our end of LOST idea, I think that would put it over the top...
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Posted by JP Frantz at Friday February 05, 2010 at 4:56 AM
From the YouTube description:
Presenting Heavy Metal Pulp, a new line of novels combining noir fiction with fantastic art featuring the themes, story lines, and graphic styles of Heavy Metal magazine.In Pleasure Model, the first book in the Netherworld trilogy, down-and out police detective Rook gets a big break when hes assigned to a bizarre and vicious murder case. The clues are colder than the corpse and the case looks like it'll remain unsolved--until an eyewitness is discovered. But the witness is a Pleasure Model, an illegal gene-grown human. Plesur's only purpose is to provide satisfaction to her owner--in any way. When the murderer targets Plesur in order to eliminate the one witness, Rook takes her into hiding to protect her. Thus begins a descent into the dark world of exotic pleasure mods and their illicit buyers and manufacturers. Rook frantically looks for clues, struggling to stay one stop ahead of those looking to kill them both. But is Rook falling under Plesur's spell?
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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday February 05, 2010 at 12:20 AM
There is still some time left to enter our giveaway for a signed copy of James Rollins' latest scientific thriller Altar of Eden, but hurry!
See the original post for the details on how to enter.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday February 05, 2010 at 12:20 AM
From the makers of RoboCop Rap!
Funny...I don't remember Paul Reiser looking like an 80's teenager when I first saw the film...
[via Geeks are Sexy]
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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday February 05, 2010 at 12:15 AM
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Posted by Charles Tan at Friday February 05, 2010 at 12:05 AM
My name is JP and I'm a science fiction fanatic. Sure I've tried other genres, fantasy, horror and mainstream come to mind, but science fiction is always my primary interest and the genre that I read almost exclusively when it comes to fiction. The reasons are numerous, and in future installments I'll go over other reasons why I like science fiction over all other genres, but today I'm going to focus on science fiction's arch nemesis, at least in the minds of many fans: mainstream fiction.
A look at the New York Times Bestseller List shows an all too common site for fiction, namely it's populated by thrillers, crime/mystery stories and other assorted dramas. Most of them don't venture outside the realm of the mundane, focusing on the "real", albeit fictionally. There are the exceptions, but those are usually in the fantasy/supernatural department. Rarely does a science fiction book hit the list, and rarer still does one stay on for an extended period of time. A glance at the summaries of most of these books does absolutely nothing for me. They are mundane, slightly boring and most definitely not interesting to me. That's why I love science fiction. It's not afraid to explore those ideas that mainstream won't, or can't.
Read more...
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Posted by JP Frantz at Thursday February 04, 2010 at 12:25 AM
Your Mission (should you choose to accept it): Tell us which cover you like best and why.
Books shown here:
NOTE: Bigger, better cover art images are available by clicking the images or title links...
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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday February 04, 2010 at 12:24 AM
Filmmaker Dan Gaud has channeled his inner alternate ego in the parallel world short film, Leap:
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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday February 04, 2010 at 12:18 AM
There are still a few days left to enter our giveaway for a copy of the Rocket Boy and the Geek Girl eBook...
See the original post for the details on how to enter.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday February 04, 2010 at 12:15 AM
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Posted by Charles Tan at Thursday February 04, 2010 at 12:05 AM
There's an overwhelming selection of appealing titles to choose from when it comes to reading science fiction, fantasy and horror books. Yet some titles float to the top of the pile, making them more immediate candidates for the next books you'll read.
Read on to see the tasty selections of this week's panelists...
Art the top of my stack is Islington Crocodiles, the highly praised short fiction collection by the UK's Paul Meloy. Intro by is by Graham Joyce. Really looking forward to that.
Next up: Strange Forces - The Stories of Leopoldo Lugones, a collection of fantastical stories from an Argentine writer released in 1906. Lugones is very well known in Latin America, almost unheard of here. He's supposed to have been an eccentric a la Lovecraft and killed himself over a woman 30 years his junior by drinking a mixture of whiskey and cyanide.
Horacio Quiroga is a classic Latin American writer of extremely dark stories, some of which are included in The Decapitated Chicken and Other Stories. A disciple of Poe, he lived a tormented life that included the suicide of one wife and desertion by his wife and child while enduring his final illness. Many of his stories are set in the jungle where much of his life was spent. Sounds like my kind of guy.
Lucy Snyder's Spellbent -- I'm not sure what this one is, a YA I guess, but it sounds like a blast. About hell coming to Ohio. Having played in a lot of Ohio's armpit bars, I can relate.
Read more...
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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday February 03, 2010 at 12:29 AM
We have yet another giveaway in store for you this week, this time we are giving away a copy of the new Jean-Claude Van Damme/Dolph Lundgren movie Universal Soldier: Regeneration. I saw the original Universal Soldier way back when it first hit the theaters and enjoyed it for what it was. But what bout Regeneration? The synopsis:
With stolen top-secret technology, terrorists have created a next-generation Universal Soldier - an elite fighter genetically altered into a programmable killing machine. With this "UniSol" leading the way, they seize the crippled Chernobyl nuclear reactor, threatening to unleash a lethal radioactive cloud.The only one who can stop them is Luc Deveraux , a UniSol who's been decommissioned for years. Reactivated and retrained, Deveraux must make a full-out assault on the heavily armed fortress. But inside, he'll discover not one but two of these virtually indestructible warriors. Andrew Scott , Deveraux's vicious UniSol enemy from the original Universal Soldier, has been secretly reanimated and upgraded.
How about a trailer for your entertainment:
Read more...
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Posted by JP Frantz at Wednesday February 03, 2010 at 12:20 AM
As if to solidify the connection between SciFi and wrestling, the WWE tapped William Shatner (as it were) to speak-sing WWE wrestler themes. The results are...well, see for yourself...
[via popwatch]
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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday February 03, 2010 at 12:15 AM
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Posted by Charles Tan at Wednesday February 03, 2010 at 12:05 AM
I liked John's posts about SF movies so much, I shamelessly plagiarized leveraged the idea for my own post on SF movies I've seen recently.
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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday February 02, 2010 at 11:29 AM
REVIEW SUMMARY: I seriously can't get enough of Punktown.
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A collection of short stories set in the fascinatingly dark and gritty city of Punktown.
MY REVIEW:
PROS: Atmospheric stories; interesting characters and situations; many stories pack a punch.
CONS: Some story endings were confusing.
BOTTOM LINE: A very good group of stories and a great introduction to the bizarreness that is Punktown.
My first encounter with Jeffrey Thomas' Punktown -- you always remember your first encounter with Punktown - was the short story "In His Sights". That story left me wanting more so I soon gobbled up Deadstock and Blue War. It hit me like a ton of bricks, Punktown did...this fascinating gallery of humans, aliens, and inter-dimensional beings that exists on the faraway world of Oasis. "Punktown" is what the locals call the sprawling city of Paxton and it's an oddly appealing place. It's been the setting of many stories written by Thomas that have appeared in various venues over the years.
Voices From Punktown is a collection of stories set in this bizarre locale. As expected, the city plays host to many well-imagined aliens and creatures and generally colorful characters. The Choom (shown here), a native race to Oasis who look essentially human except for their mouths which stretch from ear to ear, even make an appearance or two.
The dark, gritty city of Punktown is the perfect backdrop for Thomas' blend of science fiction and horror. The stories seem to accentuate the "single conceit" aspect of short fiction, making each one come off like a well-executed manipulation of the short form. The author also tweaks the use of language for additional enjoyment. Toskins (for example), the reluctant business man of "Do You Know This Girl?", doesn't just walk over a busy street's overpass, he crosses " the roaring metal rapids of Folger Street", a phrase that perfectly and succinctly conjures up the desired image in the mind's eye. Such writing makes these stories come across as meticulously crafted. And while each story delivers it's own vibe, the sum is truly more than it's parts: Punktown feels like a living, breathing entity in it's own right, a place I want to visit even more. And that disturbs me.
Standout stories in this collection include "Johnny Pharaoh", "Do You Know This Girl?", and the Cthulhu story ""The Bones of the Old Ones"
Individual story reviews follow...
Read more...
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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 02, 2010 at 12:29 AM
SF Signal has a signed copy of James Rollins' latest scientific thriller Altar of Eden to give away to one lucky reader.
Here's the book description:
Following the fall of Baghdad, two Iraqi boys stumble upon armed men looting the city zoo. The floodgates have been opened for the smuggling of hundreds of exotic birds, mammals, and reptiles to Western nations, but this crime hides a deeper secret. Amid a hail of bullets, a concealed underground weapons lab is ransacked--and something even more horrific is set free.Here's how to enter for your chance to win...Seven years later, Louisiana state veterinarian Lorna Polk stumbles upon a fishing trawler shipwrecked on a barrier island. The crew is missing or dead, but the boat holds a frightening cargo: a caged group of exotic animals, clearly part of a black market smuggling ring.
Yet, something is wrong with these beasts, disturbing deformities that make no sense: a parrot with no feathers, a pair of Capuchin monkeys conjoined at the hip, a jaguar cub with the dentition of a saber-toothed tiger. They also all share one uncanny trait--a disturbingly heightened intelligence.
To uncover the truth about the origin of this strange cargo and the terrorist threat it poses, Lorna must team up with a man who shares a dark and bloody past with her and is now an agent with the U.S. Border Patrol, Jack Menard.
Together, the two must hunt for a beast that escaped the shipwreck while uncovering a mystery tied to fractal science and genetic engineering, all to expose a horrifying secret that traces back to humankind's earliest roots.
But can Lorna stop what is about to be born upon the altar of Eden before it threatens not only the world but also the very foundation of what it means to be human?
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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 02, 2010 at 12:25 AM
The Suvudu Free Book Library has been updated with a new title: Sheepfarmer's Daughter by Elizabeth Moon available in ePub/Stanza, Mobi/Palm/Kindle, and RTF formats.
Here's the book description:
Paksenarrion--Paks, for short--refuses her father's orders to marry the pig farmer down the road and is off to join the army. And so her adventure begins--the adventure that transforms her into a hero remembered in songs, chosen by the gods to restore a lost ruler to his throne.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 02, 2010 at 12:20 AM
The contents of free web 'zine Clarkesworld Magazine #40 have been posted:
FICTION:
COVER ART: "Transfiguration of Sergeant 05" by Bryan Sola
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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 02, 2010 at 12:18 AM
Asimov's has posted the table of contents (with samples) for the March 2010 issue:
NOVELETTES
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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 02, 2010 at 12:13 AM
Analog has posted the table of contents for the April 2010 issue:
NOVELLA
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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 02, 2010 at 12:12 AM
In case you missed them, here are The Top 20 SF Signal Posts for January 2010:
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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 02, 2010 at 12:11 AM
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Posted by Charles Tan at Tuesday February 02, 2010 at 12:05 AM
Daniel X: The Ultimate Power is based James Patterson's best-selling book series, The Dangerous Days of Daniel X and it's also a new game from THQ for the Nintendo DS/i game systems and one lucky SF Signal reader is going to win a copy for their very own!
First, a bit of explanation about the Daniel X world:
The Dangerous Days of Daniel X is the story of Daniel, a young boy who possesses the incredible power of creation that he inherited from his alien parents. But Daniel also inherited something far more sinister: a frightening Wanted List of aliens that are bent on destroying Earth.
Here are some of the features for in Daniel X: The Ultimate Power:
Sounds quite fun to me!
Read more...
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Posted by JP Frantz at Monday February 01, 2010 at 12:23 PM
Back in the day, reading speculative fiction was something young people did outside of school. Today it's much more common to find speculative fiction books in their book bags. [grumble, grumble...these kids don't know how good they have it...grumble, grumble] While it may be some of the same standard speculative fiction books that are assigned, there are always a great list of alternative science fiction titles that should be assigned to students.
We received an email from one student, Ryan Bonick, who is supposed to read 2 short stories for a paper he is writing. His assigned author is Ursula K. Le Guin and has a simple question that I am passing along to our readers for their opinions:
Q: What are Ursula K. Le Guin's best short stories?
Leave a comment after the beep....
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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday February 01, 2010 at 12:25 AM
Courtesy of the fine folks at Book View Cafe, SF Signal has 2 eBook copies of Rocket Boy and the Geek Girls, an anthology edited by Phyllis Irene Radford. It's an anthology of classic and favorite science fiction stories by the BVC authors, never before gathered in a single collection.
Here's the table of contents:
SPACE
Here's how to enter for a chance to win...
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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday February 01, 2010 at 12:20 AM
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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday February 01, 2010 at 12:11 AM
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Posted by Charles Tan at Monday February 01, 2010 at 12:05 AM
We knew it was coming, but that doesn't make it any less sad...
Green Man Review is reporting that Kage Baker passed away early this morning. They posted this update from Kathleen Bartholomew, Kage Baker's sister and care giver:
She died at 1:15 this morning. She had begun to have difficulty breathing early this evening; I gave her atropine and morphine for the breathing problems and the pain, but by about 8 PM she slipped into unconsciousness. The last thing she requested was to have her pillows adjusted - she said she was more comfortable, and after that she said nothing else. She became unresponsive very shortly thereafter, and by her own request, no heroic efforts were made.She will be missed by many.
Her sister Anne and nieces Kate and Emma were up this weekend, and watched with me for most of the evening. . At about 1 AM her breathing got louder and lighter and more urgent, though her pupils were not responsive to light; there was a rush of bile from her mouth, and then she passed away very quietly in our arms.
Kage's body will go to MedCure, a body donation program working on training surgery students. They will cremate it and return the ashes to me in about 3 weeks. Her ashes will then be scattered half from Catalina Island and half from Plaskett Creek beach near Big Sur.
Also see remembrances and appreciations from:
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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday January 31, 2010 at 3:47 PM
The Interwebs are ablaze with a disagreement between book publisher Macmillan and bookseller Amazon about the price of eBooks.
In short: Macmillan (who doesn't want to undermine their print book business) allegedly wants Amazon to raise their Macmillan eBook prices from $10 to $15. In retaliation, Amazon (who wishes to promote their Kindle reading device, even if it means selling eBooks at a loss) stopped selling Macmillan titles altogether (except through 3rd parties).
[1/30/10 UPDATE: Amazon Concedes to Macmillan on E-Book pricing]
[2/4/10 UPDATE: Or did they?]
[2/4/10 UPDATE: New Message from Macmillan CEO John Sargent]
Interesting links abound:
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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday January 31, 2010 at 12:28 AM
Check out these amazing animation from Clément Morin. I love the look of these...
Invasions
Second Souffle
Read more...
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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday January 31, 2010 at 12:15 AM
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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday January 31, 2010 at 12:05 AM
And by "reads" I mean "over-acts".
Bonus for the daring viewer who clicks play: Fred Travalena!
So..apparently that 6 and not 5 Disturbing Things I Didn't Know About William Shatner.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday January 30, 2010 at 12:20 AM
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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday January 30, 2010 at 12:05 AM