I've always been fascinated by foreign science fiction, or least by the idea of foreign science fiction, because if the truth be told I haven't really read that much of it. This blog post offers some interesting resources for Chinese science fiction, a topic of which I know virtually nothing. The blog references an interesting podcast that looks at the state of science fiction in China today. While there isn't that much sci-fi activity in the country, there are plenty of members of the Chinese diaspora which are writing genre stories. A duo of Chinese Canadians recently compiled an anthology of writings by Chinese authors writing in English which sounds like an interesting read. For an idea of the diversity of science fiction being written in countries around the world, not just in China, author Jeff VanderMeer compiled a list of recommended international science fiction books from around the globe. If science fiction is dead, it looks like no one has told people outside the English-speaking world.

There is good news for fellow Iain M. Banks fans, the Scottish writer has supposedly finished another Culture novel as he reveals in this wide-ranging interview about his career and writing style. Fellow science fiction writer Catherine Asaro was also interviewed recently and she spoke about how physics and math inform her stories which is perhaps not surprising if you knew that she held a PhD from Harvard in Theoretical Atomic and Molecular Physics. If physics is your thing, then you'll love this fun overview of the subject for those of you who want to know how atomic rockets fly. There are certain sub-genres of science fiction to which female writers are not often linked. Hard SF is one of them, but another tends to be military science fiction, but as this blog post points out, there are some worthy exceptions. While I'm busy rounding up links to author interviews, here's a brief one from Tim Powers who revealed that one of his books is the basis for the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie. I'l bet there was a *lot* of artistic license used to adapt it. One last link. This one is to an interview with Lou Anders from the recently launched webzine Redstone Science Fiction. Anders is the editorial director of the science fiction and fantasy imprint Pyr.

Is the time right for another Star Trek television series? This blogger makes a compelling case for its return and offers up some suggested scenarios for a new series. Of course, the big question is when should it be set? Should it pick up where Voyager or Enterprise left off or should it be part of the alternate time line created by the latest film? I've always thought that an anthology approach would be a good one, something along the lines of the Outer Limits or Twilight Zone. I'm not saying that the stories need to be horror-tinged and weird like those stories, but merely have each episode be a standalone story with new characters each time. The Federation is a big place and it would be easy to come up with new stories and characters to populate each episode. Other fans are pining for Star Trek and it's not the usual suspects. Here's a philosopher who explains why he finds the show so compelling. Star Trek certainly has its admirers. You won't be surprised to learn that three of the different Trek series make it on to Crave Online's list of top 10 sci-fi TV shows. You may be surprised, though, to learn that the highest any of them ranks is third. You can click on the link above to look at a pretty picture for each series and generate 10 page views for Crave's advertisers, or you can read this list: 10. stargate SG-1 9. Blake's 7 8. Firefly 7. Star Trek: The Next Generation 6. Star Trek: Deep Space 8 5. Battlestar Galactica 4. Babylon 5 3. Star Trek 2. Farscape 1. Doctor Who Farscape at the number 2 spot? How about the X-Files?  

Is there a science fiction series that you think is grossly underrated? SF Signal recently put that question to a series of pundits and they opined on the subject. More interesting were some of the choices put forward by their readers. One series not mentioned that I would vote for is Ben Bova's Grand Tour books about life in the near future in our own solar system although I wonder if it qualifies as overrated if, as one commenter notes, something that is still in print shouldn't be considered. Going even further back for underrated science fiction, check out this list that choose from stories written before 1864! That year was chosen because it was the date that Jules Verne wrote Journey to the Center of the Earth. How about J.G. Ballard? Is he underrated or, perhaps, overrated? The Guardian looks at his output as a short-story writer as part of a larger series of essays about short story authors.

A new documentary is on the way that explore Star Trek fandom which is called Trek Nation. By the sounds of it, it is not a freak show like Trekkies was, but a more studied look at what makes Trek endure after four decades. If you would consider using this Star Trek communicator case to hold your mobile phone, then you'll surely want to watch the documentary. In the lean years between the end of the original Star Trek series and the first movie, fans turned to tie-in novels. Trek novels were among the earliest media tie-in books, but there were several others. This fascinating essay from IO9 looks at the history of this phenomenon which is more popular than ever before. Whenever I watch Star Trek, my favourite episodes are the ones that feature gigantic space battles with fleets of spacecraft ranged against each other or even the one-on-one fights that would pit the Enterprise against some alien foe. Sadly, the reality of space battles is a lot different than what would happen in Star Trek. This scientist explains the physics of space battles for you.

A Star Trek comedy spinoff starring the Rikers? I'd watch that.

 

This is embarrassing. Neal Barrett Jr. has been named author emeritus by the Science Fiction Writers of America. It's not him that is embarrassed. It's me. I call myself a science fiction fan and I've never heard of the guy and here he is getting such a major honour, but that might be the point. The award is meant to honour writers who have made significant contributions to the field, but may no longer be active or have works that may no longer be widely known. Judging from the list of previous winners, I think that a lot of them qualify as obscure. Previous winners were Emil Petaja, Wilson Tucker, Judith Merril, Nelson S. Bond, William Tenn, Daniel Keyes, Robert Sheckley, Katherine MacLean, Charles L. Harness, William F. Nolan, D.G. Compton, Ardath Mayhar and M. J. Engh. I recognize several of them and have even read many of their works, but wouldn't exactly call them household names. One science fiction author who's name is known to just about all fans is Robert Heinlein. His name came up recently on SciFi Wire where they posted a letter he mailed to Forrest J. Ackerman  where he criticized self-righteous science fiction fans who did nothing to help America's war effort in World War II. It's interesting reading and I wish more of his correspondance would be published. I think it would be a great insight the man's thought processes. It's not uncommon for the collected letters of famous literary figures to be published, but I wonder what will happen in the future. Will we see collected emails, tweets and blog posts get archived for study by scholars? I imagine we will, but it's going to be awfully hard to verify them, let alone locate them.  

The trend for baby names these days seems to be to give your child as unique a name as possible. I suppose it's so that they can stand out in this ultracompetitive world of ours. If the parents don't blatantly invent a name, they'll saddle their offspring with a common name with an unsual spelling so that they will have to spend the rest of their life explaining that their name is Stephen, but spelled with a C, three E's and two F's. You know, Cteeffen. It's Welsh, or something. I must confess that I am not immune from the trend and my wife and I were going to give our second child an Elvish middle name from Lord of the Rings if it was a girl. Geeky, yes, but our child was lucky to be born a boy so we never got to find out how Tinuviel would be accepted in the schoolyard. So if you are in the baby name sweepstakes, have you ever considered naming your baby with a name from science fiction? This article offers some interesting sci-fi name suggestions. Some of them are not bad, but I can't see anyone surviving to adulthood with the name Anakin. Once you've dubbed your progeny with their nerdish moniker, your next task will be to get to work on a Star Wars-themed bed. Need inspiration? How about this Imperial Walker triple bunk bed. And to help you with your parenting duties, consider Geek Dad's guide to parenting using science fiction clichés.

A video that combines two of my favourite things has got to be good. Those two things are science fiction and Christina Hendricks, the curvy actress who shot to fame with her role in the TV series Mad Men. She stars as a sexy robot in a music video by Broken Bells. I can't say much for the music, but I'd sure like to see that turned into a full-length movie! On the subject of hot babes in sci-fi movies, have you checked out this list of the 10 kinkiest sci-fi scenes? Too bad they offer only stills and not video clips of the scenes. I think an opportunity was wasted there. One of the scenes listed is for a movie that opens tomorrow called Splice. It's a rare entity - a Canadian science fiction film that is getting wide release. Reviews for the movie are positive. In a few weeks, another of the summer's anticipated science fiction movies will arrive in theatres. That film is Inception, starring Leonard DiCaprio. Some of the online marketing for it has been intriguing.    

The movie Total Recall never really got much respect from critics, but it was certainly a hit with the public and is a guilty pleasure for a lot of science fiction fans. It was 20 years ago that the movie came out and SciFi Wire looks back to come up with 10 reasons why we still love the film. There's talk of a remake next year, but how can you top the original? There's also news that someone's acquired the rights to the story to make a comic book version. I'm surprised one hasn't been done before now. As you know, the original inspiration for the film was Philip K. Dick's short story We Can Remember it for you Wholesale. Prior to that, the other big Dick adaptation was Blade Runner from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. I like Dick's titles better, but they'd never work as movie titles. I mention this because another comic book adaptation of a movie adaptation of a Dick story is in the works. This one is a comic book version of Blade Runner. Actually, it's a prequel to the original movie so at least it will be a somewhat original story. I have a feeling that the comic book industry is seeing the same trend as the movie industry. People are "re-imagining" comic books that have been done before. Another example of a comic book adapted from a movie which was adapted from a book is a new graphic version of Logan's Run. That movie is also being remade. When does the remake insanity end? A;tjough, the good news about this adaptation is that the original book author is collaborating with the comic book creators.  

Need to change your life? IO9 offers up a list of 20 science fiction novels it claims will do just that. It's certainly an interesting list of books worth reading, but life-changing is a tall order. I can't really think of a sci-fi novel which actually managed to change my own life, apart from the very first one I read that turned me on the genre, but it's been so long, I can't even remember what book that might have been. One of my favourite authors is William Gibson. He's also got a list of science fiction novels worth reading. They are his own personal recommendations of his favourites. It's part of a larger group of book recommendations from famous writers in various genres. For more recommendations, this Science Fiction ABCdery purloined from a fanzine is an entertaining read of books and authors that may be overlooked by some fans. So what book changed your life?  

Don't tell me that this headline doesn't sound like the plot of a science fiction story: "Japan plans to build robot moon base by 2020." If you read the story, these aren't just any old robots. They are semi-autonomous, humanoid robots. You know how that story ends, don't you? Meanwhile, NASA is working on a humanoid robot of its own called Robonaut2 which is slated to fly on one of the last space shuttle missions. It's part of their push to build all sorts of robots, humanoid or otherwise, to explore our solar system. You and I probably won't be going to the moon any time soon, but if you are interested in lunar science, you might want to give Moon Zoo a look. It's an effort to harness the efforts of volunteers to organize some of the massive quantity of images collected by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. And speaking of images, here's a nice collection from the ongoing Cassini mission around Saturn. Chesley Bonestell would be proud.

The 1970s saw lots of good science fiction movies so don't be surprised if Hollywood starts churning out some remakes soon. Here's a list of suggestions. The list contains some good films, but, as I always like to point out, why not remake a bad movie and make it better. There's certainly a long list to choose from. Unfortunately, that's not accepted wisdom among studio heads because they want to make something with name recognition. One 70s film which on the remake track again is Logan's Run. Apparently, the project has a new director. This writer offers up some rules on how to approach a science fiction remake. It's aimed at TV shows that are making a comeback, but I think the rules apply just as well to movie-makers. How come no one has gone way back to the silent era to plunder science fiction ideas? What about Metropolis? Is it untouchable? It's lasting effect on the genre is impressive. Not only does Hollywood like to steal old movies for their recognizable titles, they have been doing the same for books forever. One book that science fiction fans had hoped for long time would be adapted as a movie was William Gibson's Neuromancer. There have long been rumours of an impending movie, but it's never happened. Cyberpunk's day may be past, but someone has recently written a screenplay, so we may end up seeing it come to light finally.

Star Wars is a film, not only in the sense that it is moving pictures, but also that it is a work that is stored in that analog medium. Ars Technica takes a look at why that is significant for its future and any new editions that might be created based on the original negatives. With the recent passing of the 30th anniversary of the release of the Empire Strikes Back, there have been a number of factoids being served up to a nostalgic audience. This photo is one that clearly reminds you that it was created in a pre-digital era. For even more tidbits about the film, check out this exhaustive list of 100 things you didn't know about The Empire Strikes Back. There's some far out stuff in there. A grab-bag of sources were cited, but a true geek would appreciate some footnotes. For some lighter TESB fare, how about this diary that purports to be a day in the life of Lobot, Lando Calrissian's odd assistant from Cloud City who looks like he has a 70s-era Soviet version of a bluetooth extension on his head. Chemistry wonks might also appreciate this Periodic Table of The Empire Strikes Back.

For electronic books and electronic readers, we are living in the equivalent of the pre-Cambrian period of evolution on this planet. There was an explosion of varied life-forms, most of which eventually died off to be replaced by evolutionary successful species. We're seeing a similar outburst of electronic reading devices with a dizzying array of formats and attempts to restyle books for the new medium. An interesting experiment recently launched which involves Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear and a host of other writers. The "book" will be released over the course of about a year and be available in a variety of formats. It is called The Mongoliad. Its Facebook page describes it as "the beginning of an experiment in storytelling, technology, and community-driven creativity." It sounds like something worth investigating. Another interesting experiment in electronic publishing that caught my eye was one Canadian science fiction author's attempt to get you to read his book that involves paying you, the reader. No, he doesn't give every reader money directly, but instead is offering a contest with cash prizes to people who have read his new novel. To encourage more people to publish their own works directly, Barnes & Noble has jumped on the e-self-publishing bandwagon with their new service, PubIt. So what will be the tipping point that gets most of us reading our books on electronic readers? It appears to be price. When the price on those gizmos comes down, we'll be rushing out to buy them. The tree will be happy to see that day. One drawback of all these screens, though, is a recent study that explains how their light fools our bodies into thinking it's still daytime which is playing havoc with our sleep cycles.  

May 21 is the 30th anniversary of the release of what many consider to be the best of the Star Wars movies, The Empire Strikes Back. I remember seeing it on the big screen and feel sad for the generation of fans that only know it from watching it on television. To mark the occasion, I offer up some related links that you may enjoy. The first is one site's tribute to the bounty hunter Bobba Fett who became a cult favourite after the film came out. Even cooler, is this invented movie trailer that splices together old B-movie footage to create a 50's-style trailer for TESB. As amusing as the trailer is, it's no secret that George Lucas was inspired to make the Star Wars movies because of his love for early science fiction serials so the connection between old B-movies and Star Wars is not a difficult one to make. If you want to learn more about 50s-era sci-fi movies, Keep Watching the Skies! is the sort of scholarly book you'll want to read to become an instant expert on the subject. That book is all about American science fiction movies from that decade, but the Japanese were paying close attention and they put out some classic movies of their own a decade later, most notably the Godzilla movies, but there were plenty of other monster films. Gamera was always a favourite and he's received the remastered DVD treatment. Modern fans love B-movies not only for the on-screen kitsch, but also for some of the far-out movie posters they inspired. This group of artists recently issued a challenge for digital artists to create some imaginary B-movie posters of their own. Some of them are pretty good, but few can actually match the great work of the originals. Still on the subject of 50s movies, beloved actor Leonard Nimoy has a long history of involvement with genre films going all the way back to the time of bad B films. He remembers that time, but points out that the stories then were a lot less sophisticated than they are today. Sadly, we won't get to see much more of Nimoy on the silver screen, or even the small screen, because he recently announced that he's retiring from acting.

Avatar star Sam Worthington is hot. I have lost count of the number of upcoming movie projects to which his name is attached. One recent announcement that caught my eye is his casting as Allan Quatermain in a new adventure film. Quatermain, you'll recall, was the hero in H. Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines. I've got time for that. Another new project that sounds like it will be box office gold is Super 8, if only because it brings together the forces of Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams. What can go wrong? You can get a taste of it from the trailer. Of course, just because they have a great science fiction track record doesn't guarantee success. In fact, there have been many great sci-fi films that have been made by directors with no prior experience in the genre. Perhaps that is a good thing because they don't come to the project with as many pre-conceptions. An even odder report I saw about an upcoming film is that Disney optioned a book by fantasy writer Tim Powers to be the basis for the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie. I'm guessing there will be a lot of adapting going on to shoehorn his book into that universe. Finally, just because a movie is in development doesn't mean we'll necessarily get to see it. There have been plenty of good projects that just never happened. Here are 10 that had the most potential.

One of these days someone is going to create a computer program that can write science fiction stories without human intervention. Hey, that sounds like a good story idea. We're not quite there yet, but if you want to write a story, but don't  have a very good imagination, you could use the Electro-Plasmic Hydrocephalic Genre Fiction Generator 2000 to come up with some ideas. Here's the plot summary I came up with: "In a post-apocalyptic Victorian Britain, a young collector of oddities stumbles across an alien artifact which spurs him into conflict with a government conspiracy with the help of a cherubic girl with pigtails and spunk and her cleavage culminating in the land restored to health." The generator offers some title suggestions but I prefer to use The Random Pulp Science Fiction Title Generator to come up with a name for my masterwork. It will be called The Silence of Mankind's Death Ray. Now all I have to do is write it. Or maybe I'll wait until someone comes up with that computer program to write it for me.