Friday, May 25, 2012

Sci-fi and fantasy plays, games, interviews and animation

I'm seeing more and more sci-fi plays. I think it's great. What follows is all over the map, but there should be something for everyone.

Live in or near Toronto? Here's another sci-fi play. It's running through June 2nd. Here's the synopsis I was given:

The show is called "Islands" and it is set in the year 2512. Humanity was almost wiped out by nuclear war a few hundred years earlier, but the civilization on this Island managed to survive. Over time they reached out and re-colonized and brought civilization back to the rest of the world. However, the Islanders have an oligarchy built on science and logic. So eventually they come into political and religious conflict with some of the people whom they've "reclaimed." This play examines the conflict between the two dueling factions, and the dynamic between the governed and the rulers.

Read character bios, expanded synopsis and a video about the concept of the show at www.draft89.com A little late, but here's a trailer for the Game of Thrones RPG.

And there's a fantasy play based on Ursula K Le Guin's Lathe of Heaven. You'll have to click on it to actually read it. If you don't have to, I wish I had your vision!

I'm sending a reviewer, so there's more to come. This is just your chance to save the date.

And swinging back to technology and special effects, here's a video with a producer of a stop-action film with lots of cool special effects where he says how he achieves the effects on the cheap. His last film won an award. Check it out.

And this just in from the Minister of Chance gang. Don't know about Minister of Chance? Then you haven't been a faithful SFOO reader. Pop Minister of Chance in the Google box to the right and you'll find tons of information about this fabulous sci-fi audio play.

We're delighted to say that thanks to your generosity in funding The Minister of Chance Episode 3 that we start recording on Monday at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. We're even more delighted to say that the fantastic Tamsin Greig will be joining the cast as the mysterious Sage of The Waves (yes, that's also Dan's Twitter name!). For more details please check out the new "News" page on the website. Oh and remember to buy loads of merchandise :)
And here's a little something for Leonard Nimoy fans. The Nerdist channel has a two part interview by Hero Complex.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Sci-fi and our favorite directors

Prometheus opens June 8th in the States. Have you seen the second trailer?

And here's an interview with director, Ridley Scott on the Nerdist Channel.

When you go see Joss Whedon's The Avengers, make sure to sit through the credits. You will be rewarded.

While I can't review this on Science Fiction and Other ODDysseys since it's not sci-fi, I can give it a plug: Here's the scoop straight from the publicists mouth:

I wanted to alert you to a new pop-sci book being published this summer by Henry Holt: HOW TO BUILD AN ANDROID: The True Story of Philip K. Dick’s Robotic Resurrection (Henry Holt & Co, on sale 6/5/2012) is the story of how a sculptor and a computer programmer led a team of roboticists to create a life-size android of science fiction icon, Philip K. Dick. The android had a camera for “eyes,” a speaker for a “mouth,” and an Artificial Intelligence simulation of the author’s mind that allowed it to hold conversations with other people. But in 2005, in the middle of a national publicity tour and in true PKD fashion, the head of this impressive android went missing, and has yet to be recovered.

In HOW TO BUILD AN ANDROID, author David Dufty discusses the aforementioned enigma and the events that led to it in while giving us a behind-the-scenes narrative of the cutting edge android technology and artificial intelligence that went into the project.

And here, once again, is the interview with PK Dick's head.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Bragging rights and zombie nights

It's not science fiction, but it is in a science fiction magazine, and, more importantly, was written by yours truly... Please read my article on Airships at Strange Horizons. If you really appreciate my blog and my writing, show the love and leave a comment there. Thanks so much!!

Airships: Not Just Flying Billboards by Ann Wilkes

Here's the free e-book from Phoenix:

Our free ebook for May is Jack L. Chalker’s ‘The Messiah Choice.’

The coupon code is 9991511 and the will be good from May 2 through May 31. Links for downloading the book (as usual) from our online catalogue at www.PPickings.com

Short Description for the Book:

Sir Robert McKenzie, owner of the Magellan Corporation, dies suddenly in a mysterious and grisly way. His daughter may be next, for a Satanic cult is determined to herald the arrival of the apocalypse.

Greg MacDonald unravels the mystery of the cult, run by scientists with a distorted sense of duty and a computer that may be the Antichrist itself.

I just had two offers to try out sf apps for my phone. I had to tell them both that, alas, my phone is dumb. Tell your friend about the blog and maybe I can one day have a smart phone again. ;) It will be a win-win. I'll tell you about cool new apps for your smart phones. And now that I have spent two hours digging through all of my emails to find the goodies worth posting, it's 10:20 and the rest of the goodies will have to post another day. Sorry. But I have to keep you coming back for more, right?

And where are the zombies, you ask? Well, aside from the fact that I'm starting to look like one from lack of sleep, stay tuned for a zombie game giveaway in the near future.

Finally, just a reminder. Turn your cell phone off before you go to bed. Those spammers like to text you at 2AM. Trust me on this. Where's that sociology book? That will put me to sleep.