Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and Aussie Indie goodness

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes looks pretty intense. Too bad we have to wait till July to see the next Planet of the Apes movie.


And here are some still portraits from Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.


Filming for the Indie flick Arrowhead is going on in the outback this winter. Arrowhead reached its Kickstarter goal, but the filmmakers want to generate more buzz via Kickstarter to make the most of the launch and recoup some of the funds they personally invested. Here's the teaser and a 10 minute proof of concept that got the initial funding. The film is slated to premiere on TV in Australia in September 2014. No word yet on a US release date.

Arrowhead Show Reel from Arrowhead: The Movie on Vimeo.


Arrowhead: Signal from Arrowhead: The Movie on Vimeo.

Vonnegut story to film project, literary freebies and gift ideas

Screenwriter Derek Ryan has teamed up with folks connected with such projects as District 9 to produce Kurt Vonnegut's "2BR02B" short story as a short film. "2BR02B" explores the effects of population control on a future earth where no one is born unless someone volunteers to die. And this in a world where, barring a random accident, where people no longer age or die. And to make it worse for the parents, they're having triplets.  You can read the story for free at the Gutenberg Project. I also just found an audio version of 2BR02B at LibriVox.

This film is still in the crowd-funding stage. I'm giving it my thumbs up as a good investment. I wouldn't post it here unless I thought it a worthwhile project. You can also visit their Facebook page for more information.



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Phoenix Pick’s free ebook for December is A. A. Attanasio’s Last Legends
of Earth. This novel has a five-star rating on Amazon. Publishers Weekly calls it an "Epic love
story, intricate, wildly imaginative and touching."

Set in the artificial planetary system of Chalco-Doror, which is no more and no less than a vast cosmic machine, The
Last Legends of Earth is a love story, a gripping saga of struggle against alien control, and an examination of the machinery of creation and destruction. Above all, it is world-building of the highest and grandest order, on a scale rarely seen in science fiction since the great works of Olaf Stapledon.

Visit Phoenix Pick's online catalog and enter 9991563 to receive this title for free through the end of December 2013.

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I've had quite a few emails from folks wanting me to include their stuff in my holiday gift guide. And which one would that be? I'm kind of fed up with the commercialization of Christmas, but there were a couple items I thought folks would be interested in, whether as a gift or a personal indulgence. Ho ho ho.

The Who's Who of Doctor Who: A Whovian Guide to Friends, Foes, Villians, Monsters, and Companions to the Good Doctor. I'm guessing it will have to be a late gift, though, as it publishes on the second of January according to the publisher's email, although their website says available 12/12. You can probably pre-order from the publisher's page and definitely from Amazon.

If you're more of a Star Wars fan and good with your hands (or know of someone that fits that description), there's this Star Wars Origami book: Star Wars Origami: 36 Amazing Paper-folding Projects from a Galaxy Far, Far Away.... 

Or you can give the gift of audiobooks from Audiobooks or Audibles. And you know about LibriVox, right? LibriVox has a ton of titles that are in the public domain that you can download for free. Think you have a great reading voice? They're always looking for more volunteer readers.

Or you could help crowdfund a worthy indie film and gift the perks. ;)

New Mags, a Movie and a Short

New sci-fi magazines continue to pop up on the Net. Some will make it and some won't. Clearly, readers are doing more digital reading as opposed to holding that pulp in their hand and flipping paper pages. Have you checked out a couple of the newest yet? Phoenix Pick's Galaxy's Edge is still free. Their first issue is still available through the end of the month at www.GalaxysEdge.com. Their free book for April, by the way, is Stephen Leighs' The Abraxas Marvel Circus and can be read for free by inserting 9991932 into the coupon code box at www.PPickings.com (before May 1, 2013).

There's a plethora of stuff to read on the reboot of Amazing Stories.  I had been asked to help by being in their stable of bloggers. It's a worthy endeavor, but it required more time than I could commit to. I do, however, wish them the very best. I hope they do the name proud. It looks like they're off to a good start.

I continue to get requests to promote indie films, which I love doing. However, it helps if I have a decent trailer to decide if I want to get behind it. Just a word of advice to those considering sending me something.


This guy may not have his full-on, production trailer ready, but he seems to have the chops and a good storyline. I happen to have read and enjoyed "New" as well. ;) I guess it does help to know me.

 "NEW" - the movie from John Harden on Vimeo.

And here's an IFC movie you can watch now. I wish I had time to watch Antiviral and review it for you. Maybe one of you can send me a review. I'm honestly having a hard time with the premise. It won at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) and it's an Official Selection at Cannes, so maybe I shouldn't be so hasty.

Set in a dystopian future-present, where celebrity has become a commodity, Syd March (Jones) works in a clinic that specializes in harvesting celebrity illnesses and selling off them as injections. After becoming infected with a deadly virus himself, Syd must now fight to save his life from a savage disease as well as from a population of crazed super-fans.