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.

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.

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.

"Kingdom of Gods" Transcends Epic Fantasy

The Kingdom of Gods

N. K. Jemisin

Orbit 2011

Review by Clare Deming

In The Kingdom of Gods, the third book in the Inheritance Trilogy, N. K. Jemisin brings her epic tale of gods and humanity to a staggering conclusion. If you haven't read the first two books, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and The Broken Kingdoms, then this third book may not be the place to start. Each of the first two books could be read as a stand-alone novel, following the narrative of a single character as she explores her world. The reader is swept along in that process of discovery. In this final volume, some familiarity with the mythology established in the first books is assumed. There is a quick summary of the origin of the Three (gods), but it is told very much through the lens of the viewpoint character's opinion.

Unlike the first two books, The Kingom of Gods follows a godling's story rather than that of a mortal woman. Godlings are offspring of the Three, and have more specific realms of power. Sieh is the eldest of the godlings, and ironically is a god of childhood in all of its aspects. Sulking in the bowels of the city of Sky, rejected and alone, Sieh is found by the two Arameri heirs, just children at the novel's opening. The Arameri are humans who have ruled over the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms for millenia, and although their power has waned, they still maintain their aristocracy. These two twins, Shahar and Dekarta, strike a mixture of feelings in Sieh, for in the recent past, the Arameri had enslaved most of the gods, including Sieh. On one hand, he would like to kill them for what their ancestors did, but on the other, they are children.

When the twins convince Sieh to take a blood-oath of friendship, something goes terribly wrong. The underpalace is destroyed, and while Shahar and Dekarta are rescued and healed, Sieh vanishes and his corporeal form fades. Years later he returns to consciousness, inadvertently summoned by a sixteen-year-old Shahar. Sieh soon discovers a horrifying transformation has occured. Not only has he become inexplicably mortal, but he is also aging, a process that threatens to unmake the god of childhood.

While Sieh attempts to unravel what has occured, an assassin strikes in Sky, and political uprisings in the outlying kingdoms threaten the Arameri dynasty. There are numerous additional facets to this tale. I found it marvelously complex and beautiful. Characters and themes from the earlier books are revisited, and the consequences escalate to a cosmic scale.

Sieh's character shines as a perfect embodiment of the needy, playful, and sometimes cruel nature of children. As in the first book, one of Sieh's major aspects is that of a trickster. One look at the glossary in the final pages shows his doodles and revisions, and Jemisin captures the godling's resentments and petty grudges perfectly.

I have to say that this is the best book that I've read (so far) this year. By the final chapters, N. K. Jemisin brought me to tears, and I couldn't even bring myself to begin another book for several days. If you enjoyed the first book, definitely read the rest of the trilogy. This is a series that addresses much more than the juxtaposition of good and evil, all with marvelous characterization, unpredictable but perfect plotting, and exquisite word craft.

Let's go to the movies - well almost

Note from Blogger/Editor Ann Wilkes: Sorry, sf fans. I have been without Internet access at home for a week!!! I'm cobbling this post together for you at Starbucks. Now, imagine carrying on with two online classes without Internet at home. It's been a difficult week to say the least. On the other hand, my job prospects just improved tremendously. I'm even going to have benefits. Would you believe that one of them is a free monthly massage? I'm so ready for that to happen!

Can't wait to see this!



Now we nerds will have our day! And it's on YouTube!

The internet and nerddom alike are irrevocably changed with the launch of The Nerdist Channel on YouTube today. Chris Hardwick and Nerdist Industries are bringing a truckload of celebrity talent to the Nerdist Channel. They’re going to take you Face to Face with Weird Al Yankovic interviewing top celebrities. Neil Degrasse Tyson and Neil Patrick Harris will both be bringing their star power to the Nerdist Channel, one more literally than the other as Neil Degrasse Tyson is bringing his hit radio program Star Talk to the channel. Rob Zombie will be bringing his own brand of awesomeness to play in the Nerdist landscape and the Dudesons are going to take this party past the legal speed limit in Gumball 3000.

The Nerdist Channel show lineup has something for everyone. Harry Knowles has unleashed his inner puppet on the film news world in Ain’t It Cool thanks to The Henson Company. See Chris Hardwick knock famous people down a pin or two as he bowls them over in Chris Hardwick's All Star Celebrity Bowling. If your word for nerd is “otaku,” revel in Weird S#!t from Japan. And if you just like to see cute things exploding, there's a show called...uh...Cute Things Exploding. Plus new ways to experience some of your favorites like Kids in the Hall, Farscape and Simian Undercover Detective Squad.

Chris Hardwick has this to say about his brainchild, the Nerdist Channel: "Our programming mandate was simple: what would WE want to see exist in the world? Unlike many production companies or networks, we are actually IN the demographic of the content we're creating... We program stuff we love. All of our shows are very personal and we're very passionate about what they represent." You can read more of what Chris Hardwick has to say about his channel launch in his letter to Nerdist fans.

Viewers can subscribe here.

I've been getting a flurry of short film requests. I'm going to post them here without commentary. (I did mention the bad week.) You can tell me which is worth getting behind.

Hibernation is a sci-fi short film in which an astronaut has a close encounter with his female instructor rather than whatever else he expected to find in space. Not a lot to go on. Hopefully the film is better than the description.

Trailer
Campaign video


OK, these guys say their script brought them to Sundance this year.
EMIT
Yeah, it's time spelled backwards. And that's what the film is about: time running backwards.
Here's their Kickstarter page.

This is for the guys. I'll look the other way while you watch this movie in which, well, it's sexist and has boobs. Lauren Francesca has been shooting these sf clips for Barelypolitical: http://youtu.be/pgapQkMkWNU

Now if I can just track down and watch that video for school before 8PM Sunday night, things will be peachy. Have a great weekend!