Science Fiction

Increate found us a spaceship. 3.5 out of 5 http://www.asimovs.com/pdfs/Stories/The_Stars_Do_Not_Lie.pdf

Mushroom jokers and dead snakes. 2.5 out of 5 http://www.tor.com/stories/2013/05/the-button-man-and-the-murder-tree

Official Adam Roberts WebsiteRead FBC Review of Yellow Blue TibiaRead FBC Review of New Model ArmyRead FBC Review of AnticopernicusRead FBC Review of By Light Alone Read FBC Review of Jack GlassOrder "Adam Robots" HEREI read most of the stories from Adam Robots in their original venue - having an Adam Roberts story makes an anthology generally an automatic buy, assuming reasonable price and availability - so it took me a few months to buy this one as I oscillated between "even a few newer Adam Roberts stories are worth the price" and "I am already spending so much on books not to be able to justify this one."On finishing Adam Robots, I would say that it is definitely worth the money as it is arguably the most diverse, inventive and overall excellent author collection I've read in a long time with a few stories as good as anything in their category - never could differentiate between short story, novella, novelette beyond the obvious if it is close to a novel, it's a novella and if it's one page it's a short...A few comments with links to more when I talked about the story in cause at another time:1: The best of the best, stories that are at the top of the genre:The Imperial Army - military space opera a la Adam Roberts; while the main conceit is similar to the one in Exultant by S. Baxter, the story is chock full of irony and goodiesAnticopernicus - first contact and the Fermi Paradox a la Adam Roberts; wrote more in its review on original publicationShall I Tell You the Problem With Time Travel? - time travel and the atomic bomb; crazy ideas but excellent storytelling that makes one suspend the disbeliefThrownness - Multiverse/many worlds QM2: Excellent stories that would be the highlight of any volume:Adam Robots - Adam and another Adam rather than Eve in paradiseA Prison Term of a Thousand Years - long lived humans and what the world does about them; if usually the "scientific" ideas the author uses as main conceits are far fetched to put it mildly, the content here struck me as much more plausible than say the way Peter Hamilton deals with long lived humans...The World of the Wars - HG Wells reinterpretedConstellations - dogma and its questioning on an alien planetReview: Thomas Hodgkin, Denis Bayle: a Life - review of imaginary books; love this stuff when done wellWonder: A Story in Two - sense of wonder a la Adam Roberts so not quite what one would think3: Very good and enjoyable: Godbombing - riff on religious wars and Christianity; Adam Roberts' piece in Aeon makes a good counterpoint to thisThe Mary Anna - Kipling for the 22 century and in verse too; appears also in Jack Glass Dantean - as expected from the titleThe Chrome Chromosome - short from the perspective of a sort of chromosome, though not the usual one4: Stories that are an ironic take or a straight-out parody on various tales and which try too hard to fully succeed, but are still quite good:S-Bomb - short and stringy, tries too hard for gross out funninessReMorse® - wonder drugs parodyThe Time Telephone -calling from the future and the paradoxes thereofThe Man of the Strong Arm - future criticism of early sfThe Cow - famous children story retold in 8 lines (!)Pied - sfnal zombies and the like5: Stories that just failed to impress me that much, though still readable:Woodpunk - riff on the "original on publication topical steampunk"; forced and it shows, so generally pointless and a little boringMe-topia -creation envisioned by Adam Roberts; again forced and not that interestingAnd tomorrow and - Macbeth somewhere; never cared about Macbeth, so could not care about thisThe Woman Who Bore Death - sort of fantasy Roberts; could be interesting at longer length but here came as disjointed and pointless

Doctor Who Series 7 Part 2 has now come to an end with the sensationally exciting finale, The Name of the Doctor - but what did you think of the last eight episodes? Leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below. You can read what Blogtor readers thought of Doctor Who Series 7 Part 1 HERE.

News Simon Brew 19 May 2013 - 01:04 It's definite: the BBC has commissioned Doctor Who series 8, and Steven Moffat is plotting new adventures for the Doctor... As the internet recovers from the finale to Doctor Who series 7, The Name Of The Doctor, the BBC has moved quickly to confirm that more is in store. We already knew that we had a 50th anniversary special and a Christmas special planned. But there's now been formal confirmation of an eighth series of the revived show. The official Doctor Who website also seems to confirm Steven Moffat's involvement in series 8, too. It says that "the show’s lead writer and executive producer, Steven Moffat, has revealed he’s already plotting a brand new run of adventures for the Doctor". It doesn't confirm that Matt Smith is returning, although The Sun ran a piece last week suggesting that he would. We suspect that things are being kept up sleeves one way or another for the time being, though. More news as we get it... Doctor Who. Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here. Doctor WhoDoctor Who series 8Doctor Who 50th anniversary

Earlier this evening, the official Doctor Who website confirmed that Series 8 of the show has been commissioned by the BBC. Current showrunner Steven Moffat is on board, reaffirming what he told reporters last weekend HERE. The BBC have not made any official casting announcements regarding Jenna-Louise Coleman and Matt Smith though both are definitely involved in the 2013 Doctor Who Christmas Special which starts shooting in "August or September". Jenna talks "big gap" before Series 8 Steven Moffat: Doctor Who is "knackering"

Every Wednesday I’m off to the newsagent to pick up the latest 2000AD. Before 2012 this was something I’d never done before. I’m glad I started… Right then… this weeks cover is from Cliff Robinson and Dylan Teague, and it’s a downbeat affair. Nice enough image, but a cover? Judge Dredd by Michael Carroll and PJ Holden The hunt for the missing cadets continues with Dredd and Dolman on the case. Except one of the cadets is a Dredd clone, and they tend to be damnably resilient, so who knows where this one’s going. This is one of Carroll’s simpler tales, just a standard missing persons thing in many ways, Dredd and Dolman going from cadet to cadet, building up the backstory of the cadet’s edcape during Chaos Day. Not that that’s a problem; it’s a neatly written procedural, and Holden’s art does suit this new post-Chaos Day MC1. Gunheadz by TC Eglington and Boo Cook I’ve enjoyed this, in spite of (or possibly because of) the feeling that this is a 90s Vertigo comic, all knowing and self referencing, a comic talking about a comic, fictional realities over fictional realities. The Gunheadz of the comic come to a climactic battle with arch-nemesis Popcorn, just as the mutated post-war Gunheadz survivor Howitzer sets himself up for one final psychotic rampage, deluded and driven mad. As the final page comes round, fictional comics and real life (well real life within the story anyway) really start to blur, as comic panels fly across the page, burning fragments of a fictional world interacting with the fictional comics word. Nicely done. In fact, all three of the 3Riller episode this time round have been very, very good. Sinister Dexter by Dan Abnett and John Burns I had no idea about Sinister Dexter. None at all. A quick look on wikipedia tells me that this is actually just the Sinister part of Sinister Dexter, as Finnigan Sinister finds himself in a witness protection plan sort of thing, a new life, after genuinely saving the whole damn universe. His reward? No contact with friends and family, trapped in Generica, and looking for work, a hitman without contacts, driven to walking in a bar and asking for wetwork. The gag is there straight away, wetwork, cleaner….. ah, yes, thanks very much, here’s your mop. And it’s funny. But where’s the plot going to come from? No idea. But this first episode was alright. Burns’ artwork is a strange beast though, part of me loves it – that page above, full of those gorgeous colours, is just so lovely, but other pages just feel so damn static. Again, I shall wait and see. Stickleback: Number Of The Beast by Ian Edginton and D’Israeli Damn .. running out of time. Stickleback, Edginton, D’Israeli, pretty much same as last time. Fine story, fantastic artwork. This time we get Stickleback and Rose racing through the sewers with a pack of soldier Saurons hunting them down. Salvation? Comes from an old familiar face. Zombo by Al Ewing and Henry Flint  See, Zombo even manages to turn what should be a truly stupid and shite idea into a gag; I saw the lets fall to the ground and use the guns to slow our fall thing coming and couldn’t help but despair. And then it gets turned into a fantastic gag: “I think they’re using their guns as some kind of angry jetpack now. All very freudian if you ask me.” As usual, bonkers and bloody, the cast gets smaller and smaller each week, no-one here is safe, every-one can die, most of them already have. Zombo vs Van Satan in the end perhaps?

So far this weekend I’ve told you about new work from Rachael Smith, new work from Simon Moreton, and now, to make it a hat-trick of fantastic-ness, and the most unexpected news… Martin Stiff has a new issue of The Absence! It was a comic I fell for from the moment I first saw it, a couple of years back now. Issues 1 & 2 made my best of 2010, and issue 3 made my best of 2011 list as well. Issue 4 nearly made it on there as well, but in the end it made it to the longlist. Here’s a selection of stuff I said about it: “I have found my next thing to adore. I think that’s pretty obvious. I implore you, seek this comic out, it’s quite simply one of the most enjoyable things I’ve read all year.“ “The Absence is … incredibly mysterious, packed with intrigue, incredible characters and even a nice turn of humour amongst all the mystery.“ Yes, it is so good. I’m already planning to settle down and re-read issues 1-4 before settling down to crack open the new issue. The collection of issues 1-6 comes out from Titan Comics in 2014, but this is one you shouldn’t wait for. You can and should buy issues 1-5 here, and a collection of 1-3 here. And here’s what Martin had to say about his new issue: “It’s 52 pages long and took about 5 months which makes it the quickest issue (in terms of size to speed) EVAH! Which is just as well, since I now have to squeeze out the sixth and final issue before October… Thankfully the last issue will be a little shorter. I’ve been head down and working (both on The Absence, and, at, well, work) which explains the lack of blog updates. Where issue 4 examined Marwood’s history, issue 5 takes a look at the past of the enigmatic Dr. Temple. Here’s the blurb from the back: Following the horrifying discovery of a massive chasm beneath his home and in an attempt to help save the village from certain collapse, Dr. Temple enlists the help of an old friend from his time in a military experimental science unit.  But with Irvine Pink’s arrival also come memories of Temple’s tragic childhood and recruitment by the enigmatic and dangerous Taylor, a man whose motives are never quite what they seem and should never be trusted. Meanwhile, as the doctor and Pink race to discover the truth behind the missing villagers, Marwood’s suspicion of Temple continues to grow…”

Arty stuff for a Sunday. Put the coffee on, feast your eyes…. James Harvey’s Bartkira project – a complete remake of Akira with Simpsons characters (original idea from Ryan Humphrey) progresses apace, with odd bits cropping up online here and there. No doubt we’ll have a full book worth very soon. Here’s Chris Doherty’s page, from Dan Berry’s Tumblr, as the link to Chris Doherty’s Tumblr isn’t there anymore. Chris Doherty’s site is though. And this from Andrew Waugh…. James Nash gets his colours on… Harry Fry Herniated Spy – “My two page contribution to the forthcoming Zine Arcade - ‘Secret Spy Handbook’ issue“. Kate Leth on Game Of Thrones: Punchpolygons does a great Young Avengers piece (Via Jamie McKelvie): Have I posted this before? If not, why not? Brendan McCarthy’s lost Doom Patrol cover: Say awwwww – Jill Thompson (via Lulu Bonanza) Daredevil, Echo, & The Kingpin in the style of Gustav Klimt. From Daredevil: Echo by David Mack (Bendis) Vincent Price by Charles Burns (Comics Blah) The great Leo Baxendale’s Bash Street Kids at play (Via Bristol Board) Eduardo Risso – Dream and Death (Via I Love Comic Covers) Robert McCloskey, illustrating book-lovers, featured on the TOON Books tumblr. Pascal Campion… ooh, beautiful art (initial link via So Super Awesome:

Okay, not comics per se, but John Welding is a favourite here, and whatever he does is always worth a look. This time he’s documenting his work on a piece for Unique Wakefield, an organisation promoting independent retail in Wakefield. “I am working with Unique Wakefield, drawing some of the independent shops in Wakefield. The line work for the chosen shops is done and I am now colouring them with Photoshop. The images were drawn with dip pen and ink at home from my dodgy reference photographs.”   And straight after that, it’s back to comics: As soon as I finished drawing independent shops for Unique Wakefield I set about drawing a set of pages forThe Ridings 30th Anniversary for this September. Although 85% there I haven’t settled on all the diary page elements yet and feel the above page is still a bit of a work in progress. With a lot of my work I want to see what comes from doing the drawings rather than just copying a process. The Ridings is different from my outside drawing projects in that everything is undercover away from the elements and man made from not that very long ago, it does sport some interesting architecture and the amount of land it sits (on according to Google Satellite Maps) is huge.