Michael Moorcock is one science fiction writer who is no stranger to music, having had an association with the pyschedelic band Hawkwind in the 1960s. He recently offered a list of the music he listens to while writing and it is as eclectic as his own stories.
There are other examples of music and science fiction crossing over. IO9 wrote recently about the sort of science-fiction themed background music that was penned in the 60s and 70s that made its way into countless TV shows and movies. It was avante-garde stuff then and it almost sounds contemporary today.
Even today, science fiction continues to inspire musicians. like this band which cites The Prisoner as its biggest influence.
On that note, I'll sign off with this link to an online Prisoner graphic novel that was created to coincide with the recent AMC remake.
Authors who support giving away free, electronic copies of their books have said that it helps generate sales of physical copies of their books and now there's a study that supports that view, although it's interesting to note that the study found that when science-fiction publisher Tor gave away books, it actually hurt sales.
I've always said that once electronic book readers become more popular and easier to use, that giveaway model is going to collapse. I suspect those science-fiction readers are early adopters of book-reading devices and are more than content to have electronic versions of books over physical copies. The aforementioned article theorized that the Tor giveaways were not successful because the electronic books were only given away for a short period of time and it wasn't long enough to have an effect on book sales.
Science fiction author Ben Bova once wrote a novel predicting the electronic book market. He points out that it was meant to be a satire of the publishing industry at the time he wrote it, but is amazed at how prophetic he was.
Just to give you an idea of how electronic books are hitting a tipping point, there are now more e-book apps for the Apple iPhone than there are games.
Meanwhile, Samsung has entered the e-book reader fray with its own device and it has partnered with Barnes & Noble in the U.S. in an effort to help sell it.
There's no word if it will be available here in Canada, but if the government ever lifted its draconian Canadian ownership rules for bookstores, we might have B&N stores here and some actual competition.
There is no shortage of online communities for science fiction fans, but the folks behind MyOuterSpace.com think that the star power of Captain Kirk can make them stand out from the crowd.
Perhaps it will, but it's a crowded field and I know that I'm not interested in "friending" William Shatner. I don't know how many people will be siphoned away from such sites as Facebook or MySpace, but I'm sure some will be.
Starting an online community takes a lot of work, but technical know-how is not the biggest barrier to entry. With network-building sites like Ning, you can very quickly create a social network of your own centred on any topic like the International Space Art Network did.
The internet is allowing all sorts of fan communities to thrive and we are seeing some fascinating social experiments, such as this attempt to create a fan-funded science fiction film.
I'm sure James Cameron is bummed out that his movie Avatar didn't win an Oscar last night, but he's probably more annoyed at the steady stream of people who want to sue him for allegedly stealing their ideas for the script.
I suppose the sheer number of such allegations is proof that the plot is far from original and possibly one of the reasons it didn't grab the big prize, although it did get some recognition with wins for technical categories at the Academy Awards.
The latest person to sue Cameron is a Vancouver restaurateur who sent his script to several movie studios, including Cameron's.
Someone in China also took Cameron to court for the same reason, but the court overturned the lawsuit. I'm sure we'll see even more suits as the movie continues to rake in the dough.
As for the Avatar sequel, don't call it Avatar 2, says Cameron. For reasons that are obvious to anyone who has seen the movie, the word avatar no longer makes sense in a follow-up story.
Cameron's next project is to find a director for a remake he's written of the classic 60s film, Fantastic Voyage. It will be cool if that one is filmed in 3-D.
Even if neither Avatar or District 9 win the Academy Award for best picture, the one thing their nomination has done is to elevate the profile of science fiction among mainstream movie-goers.
That's got to be a good thing as it means even more science fiction movies will get made. The hope is that they will be as high quality as Avatar and District 9. Don't be worried that Hollywood is unleashing a Space Invaders movie on us soon. They'll always be crap like that.
It's possible that more mainstream movie directors might give their hand at helming science fiction films in coming months and years. Of course, that's nothing new. There have been other examples of big-name directors who have made sci-fi, although their success has been mixed.
As Oscar night approaches, it seems less likely that Avatar will win the big prize as there has been a torrent of backlash against the film. This article is a prime example. Considering the weird voting mechanism for this year's movie, there's a chance that a dark horse like District 9 could end up winning it, despite the steep odds.
And if you were wondering why the Na'Vi women have boobs, James Cameron explained it to a journalist who asked. It's because the audience for the movie is human. Duh.
It's been eight long years since Connie Willis has published a new book. This is a big deal. If you haven't noticed, she's become one of the most important authors in the science fiction field today. She's quietly amassed more Hugo and Nebula awards than any other science fiction writer in history.
Her new book is called Blackout and it returns to familiar territory. Like her Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing About the Dog, it deals with time-travelling historians. This time, they are sent back to London during the Blitz, a theme that she visited in her fantastic novellette, Fire Watch.
The only thing you should know before reading the book is that it is actually part one of a two-part story. The story concludes in her next book, All Clear.
Considering her stature, some have dubbed her the heir to Robert Heinlein's throne as the genre's top dog. There was a time that people pointed to Heinlein, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke as the genre's Big Three. There have been no one like that since, but Willis might be this generation's addition.
Perhaps realizing a need to preserve her legacy, she has donated some of her papers to the University of Northern Colorado to help document her writing process.
An American physics professor has supposedly drawn up a list of scientific guidelines for scriptwriters so that they don't violate scientific facts a little less often than they do now. He proposes no more than one major transgression per film or TV show. Sadly, a lot of science fiction movies and TV shows violate the laws of science multiple times per half hour of screen time.
But does it really make sense to limit these transgressions to a set number? Why only one? Why not two? Maybe three would be okay if it really made the story more entertaining. As this writer points out, it makes no sense to try to limit these sort of things to some sort of formula.
There are plenty of arguments that bad science in sci-fi stories is hurting real science, but some argue that it's bad education that is leading people to not know their science well enough to write about it accurately.
The professor, who is named Sidney Perkowitz, actually wrote a book a few years back about how Hollywood depicts science in the movies.
I can't decide which record is more impressive. The one that was set by 99 Star Trek fans who established a new mark for the most costumed fans in one place at one time or the record set by another fan who was able to correctly name each TOS episode in order in under two minutes. Here's a video of his record-setting performance:
Considering the amounts of ums and pauses in his speech, I think there's the opportunity to shatter the record. Maybe it could be you who does it.
And frankly, the 99-fans-in-one-place record doesn't sound like such a big deal. I've seen bigger flash mobs like the crazy Star Wars light saber duel in a British shopping centre.
If record-setting isn't your thing, but you do like Star Trek, then how about the new Trek MMORPG? Here's the New York Times review.
With the success of Avatar, Hollywood is rushing to cash in on the popularity of 3D movies. The problem is that there may not be enough screens that are equipped to project them that some of those movies may not be as accessible as the studios would want.
It seems that every new big-budget, effects movie is being filmed in 3D. The latest to get the treatment is a remake of Flash Gordon. The produces promise it won't be a camp-fest like the last big-screen treatment of the venerable character.
The thing about 3D movies, and television, is that research has shown that it's not so great for you since it induces eyestrain and headaches for the viewer.
I have my doubts that 3D, at least in its current incarnation, will be anything more than a short-lived gimmick used to pull people into theatres. It's reminiscent of the 3D fad in the 50s when move makers were worried that they'd lose audiences to television. Today, they're worried they're losing people to the internet. What's going to happen when every movie is in 3D? It won't be such a draw anymore.
The record of successful science fiction television shows in recent years hasn't been very good. More shows have been cancelled than have survived, which is probably true of any genre of TV show, but it seems that networks are much quicker to euthenize shows that actually have potential. Does that mean that the genre is dying out on television?
Perhaps, but here are 18 sci-fi shows in the works that could help revive the genre to its televised glory days, whenever those were.
One of the shows mentioned, and one that I am looking forward to, is the Star Wars live action series. No one's really sure of the title or when it will actually begin airing, but it sounds like it might not be as bad as Phantom Menace.
If sci-fi does die off on television some day, it will continue to find a home on the internet on various web series.