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Out
of the Woodwork 160. January 2010
Welcome to our newsletter and a happy new year to one and all, it contains up to the minute news and gossip as well as awards details and items requiring help from the collective consciousness. If you wish to contribute please do so! We welcome your thoughts, your news items and any gossip! We do love a bit of gossip here at Fantastic HQ. Below is a scene from our frozen Hockley Woods, just beyond Fantastic HQ
Joe Haldeman named Damon Knight Memorial Grand
Master OotW Blinks: What would happen if some catastrophe laid waste to the earth and
society broke down? A new film of Cormac McCarthy's novel The Road
dares to confront these questions. Mark Lynas is awe-struck (Independent) Joe Haldeman will be honored as the next Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master for 2010 by Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The Grand Master represents SFWA’s highest accolade and recognizes excellence for a lifetime of contributions to the genres of science fiction and fantasy. SFWA Author Sir
Terry Pratchett will deliver the 34th annual Richard Dimbleby Lecture,
held in honour of the veteran broadcaster, the BBC has announced.
Writer of the bestselling Discworld series, Sir Terry revealed he
was suffering from a rare form of early-onset Alzheimer's disease
in 2007. His lecture will explore how modern society needs to redefine
how it deals with death.
BBC Christmas competition winners were Sam Madden from Shepton Mallet and Donald Stewart from Perthshire - who both knew that J R R Tolkien was born on the 3rd January 1892, Two copies of "The Adversary" by James R Bowman were duly despatched on the 4th January to the lucky winners. Sam responded: Many thanks, I received the book on Friday. It was sitting at the Post Office but due to the weather they’d not delivered to us at all last week. I suspect this week will be the same. I’m currently reading Robert Jordan (started book 2 on Friday) as recommended by my son. Not sure who’ll get to this new one first! We’re both looking forward to it. Channel 4 Book Club - A celebrity panel including Laila Rouass, Jo Brand and Gok Wan will be reviewing books for the inagural series of Channel 4’s TV book club. If the success of Richard and Judy’s book club is anything to go by demand for the titles featured on the show is bound to be high, so here’s the reading list – get your reservations in quick! 17th January: The Little Stranger Sarah Waters (Little, Brown) The series begins on digital channel More4 on Sunday 17 January, with repeats on daytime Channel 4. Several rare early editions of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll are due to be sold at auction in the US. One of the books belonged to 10-year-old Alice Liddell, the Oxford don's inspiration for Alice, and is expected to fetch up to £90,000. The books are being sold by American football star and children's book collector Pat McInally. Alice Liddell was the daughter of the Dean of Christchurch College, Oxford while Lewis Carroll was there as the Professor of Maths. He used many of his experiences there as inspiration for Alice in Wonderland. BBC story Update: The rare edition of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, given to the real Alice, has sold for $115,000 (£70,896) at an auction in the USA. E-reader nightmare. You've bought a book for your e-reader and it's yours to own, right? That's what George Orwell fans thought, until their purchases disappeared. The implications are sinister. Justin Gawronski, a 17-year-old American student living outside Detroit, had spent several weeks studying George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four when, one morning last July, Amazon ate his homework. He woke up and switched on his Kindle electronic reader only to watch the copy of the dystopian novel he had bought three months earlier disappear.Gawronski wasn't the only victim of what would become known among some outraged bloggers as the "Kindle swindle". Full Independent story Dr Who - 10 million viewers. David Tennant's final outing as Doctor Who was watched by 10.4m viewers on New Year's Day, according to early overnight figures, including the entire Fantastic HQ staff and assorted hangers-on, family etc. At the climax of the episode, a total of 10.8m tuned in to see the Time Lord regenerate into his 11th incarnation, 27-year-old actor Matt Smith. Tennant's final words on the show were, "I don't want to go". Smith, meanwhile, uttered the immortal line, "legs! I've got legs!" as he made his screen debut as The Doctor. BBC Story No more Spider Man for Tobey Maguire and Sam Raimi. US actor Tobey Maguire and director Sam Raimi will not be returning for a fourth film in the hit Spider-Man franchise, it has been announced. Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios said a new film would be released in 2012, but with a new story, director and cast, so that basically wrecked that then. BBC story And even more trouble for Spidey: Theatregoers who bought tickets
for the upcoming Broadway Spider-Man musical have been offered refunds
due to a delay in bringing it to the stage. Spider-Man Turn Off
the Dark was due to open on 25 February, but production stopped
last summer because of financial difficulties. Producers said the
show was "moving forward" and an opening date, for later
in the year, would be announced soon. Mmmmmm! BBC
story Philip K Dick's family to sue Google over new phone's name. It was supposed to be the long-awaited launch of Google’s rival to Apple’s iphone. But instead, the unveiling of the company’s Nexus One mobile has landed it in legal hot water after the family of author Philip K. Dick, on whose novel the film Blade Runner was based, threatened to sue for infringement of intellectual property rights. Nexus 6, as you recall, where the types of androids that went rogue in "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep"or "Bladerunner". Independent story Dorothy Gilman, celebrated author of the Mrs. Pollifax series of spy novels, has been chosen as this year’s Grand Master by Mystery Writers of America (MWA). MWA's Grand Master Award represents the pinnacle of achievement in mystery writing and was established to acknowledge important contributions to this genre, as well as significant output of consistently high-quality material. Gilman, a New Jersey native, has written and contributed to over 30 books that feature uncommon and unique characters. Her writing has continually kept readers coming back for 60 years. Mystery Writers of America. Guess who sold more books than any other writer during the noughties? The seven Harry Potter novels sold 27.6 million copies over the
last 10 years. That is more than double Rowling's nearest rival,
Dan Brown but The Da Vinci Code, the rip-roaring, church-bothering
thriller, sold a staggering 5.2m copies in the UK, far more than
the most popular Potter novel, The Deathly Hallows, on 4.37m. Full
BBC story
George Lucas 'loses Stormtrooper legal fight' . Director George Lucas's production company has lost the latest round in a legal battle against a prop designer who sells replica Star Wars costumes. The Court of Appeal rejected claims by Lucasfilm that Andrew Ainsworth, who created the original Stormtrooper suits and helmets, was breaching copyright. It ruled that the helmets were not works of art and were therefore not covered by copyright law in the UK. The decision allows Mr Ainsworth to continue producing the uniforms BBC story JG
Ballard has left more than £4million in his will. Bestselling author Val McDermid has been named as the recipient of this year’s prestigious CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger Award, which honours outstanding achievement in the field of crime writing. The announcement has been made by the Crime Writers’ Association in recognition of Val’s work over more than 20 years (CWA) Internet Review of Science Fiction closes doors. Sadly the longtime review and news site IROSF announced that they would be shutting down in February. After six years of publication the Internet Review of Science Fiction (irosf.com) will cease operations after the February, 2010 issue. Publisher L Blunt “Bluejack” Jackson and Editor Stacey Janssen expressed their gratitude to all the subscribers, contributors, authors, and especially the volunteers who made IROSF such a success since its first issue in January, 2004. IRoSF Avatar
has become the fastest movie ever to achieve $1bn (£625.6m)
in ticket sales around the world. Distributors 20th Century Fox
say it has earned more than $350m (£217m) in the US and more
than $670m (£415m) in the rest of the world in only 17 days.
The 3D science fiction blockbuster was directed by James Cameron,
who also made Titanic, the best selling movie of all time. Ok so
it's "Dances with Wolves" crossed with "Apocalypse
Now" and "The Emerald Forest" but so what, it's a
visual treat. Dumb Fantastic Literature howlers: Anne Robinson: 'What is the name of the London club that marks the start and finish point in Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days?' Contestant, a woman described as a teacher: 'Ronnie Scott's. Thanks to PJP for submitting this one, if you hear anything like it please let us know. (PS: Reform Club) Cherie
Priest's steampunk novel Boneshaker (Tor), has been
selected for a 2010 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award.
Priest's book was one of five winners selected from over 200 entries.
The awards are voted on by a committee of nine booksellers from
throughout the region. Winners of the 2006 and 2007 Carl Brandon Society Awards have been announced. 2006 Carl Brandon Parallax Award: Mindscape, Andrea Hairston (Aqueduct) BSFA Meeting: Jim Burns Interview On 27th January 2010 from around 7pm Jim Burns (winner of the Hugo award for best professional artist three times—the only non-American ever to have won it—and has also been awarded 12 BSFA Awards.) will be interviewed by Pete Young. Venue: Nearest Tube: Sloane Square (District/Circle) All welcome! (No entry fee or tickets. Non-members welcome.) Interview will commence at 7.00 pm, but the room is open from 6.00
(and fans in the downstairs bar from 5). Planet-hunters have discovered two "super-Earths" orbiting two nearby Sun-like stars. These rocky planets are larger than the Earth but much smaller than ice giants such as Uranus and Neptune.Scientists say the discoveries are a step towards finding potentially habitable planets - smaller planets that are comparable to the Earth. BBC story Finalists for the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize: The finalists for this year's Waterstone's Children's book prize have been revealed. Real-life issues feature heavily on the nine-strong shortlist, with several authors tackling tough subjects for children. BBC SHORTLISTED BOOKS Best selling Childrens books 2009 BEST-SELLING CHILDREN'S BOOKS Milorad Pavic, an internationally prominent Serbian writer whose novels upended the traditional relationship between reader and text, taking the form of dictionaries, crossword puzzles and much else, died on Nov. 30 in Belgrade. He was 80. NYT SF screenwriter Dan O'Bannon, whose film credits include Alien and Total Recall, has died aged 63. The Writers Guild of America confirmed he passed away on Thursday 17th December in a Californian hospital. He began his career in 1974 with the movie Dark Star, which he co-wrote with director John Carpenter. O'Bannon continued writing sci-fi and horror pictures including Invaders from Mars, Bleeders and The Return Of The Living Dead, which he also directed. BBC story Bibliographer Mark Owings, 64, died December 30, 2009 from pancreatic cancer. Owings worked with Jack Chalker on The Index to the Science-Fantasy Publishers (1991) and The Revised H.P. Lovecraft Bibliography (1973) Two for the collective consciousness:- a)I read this novel in the Seventies. A sort of 'Day of the Triffids' but where the catastrophe was 'crustal displacement' (very a la 2012) where global volcanic action wipes out much of humanity. The main thing I remember was that there were few women survivors and those that there were are jealously guarded and held in common by the men of the groups. Fairly bleak I recall. Mark
and Mark responded:
That's it! Well done, Simon.Very quick. Hmmm.. I've got a couple
more up my sleeve I'd like to try out on you guys. Get back to you!
Thanks a lot. b)I have a question that I'm hoping the collective consciousness
can help me with. Back in the early 90's (I think) I read a sci-fi
book from the local library. One of the few things I remember about
it is that it involved Antarctica and that the people living there
had a treatment to resist UV which turned their skins purplish.
I know it's a long shot but, I'm hoping someone else might remember
it and it's title! Richard Christou - suggested "On the collective consciousness, the UV proof Antarcticans sounds like Charles Sheffield’s Traders World to me, though I could be wrong as it is a long time since I read it. Have great Christmas. Tim responded: Hmmm, could be I'll have to see if I can find a
synopsis of it! Thank you, and if it does turn out to be that I
know where I'll be looking to order from....Cheers, Can you help or do you have a query for the collective consciousness? Email us Department of smug self satisfaction:- a) Just to say, I love your newsletter, I read it as soon as the email alerting me comes in. Keep up the good work. sam b) "The best playtrade I have come across, ordered Thursday arrived Saturday - even this close to Christmas, the product was claimed to be 'Used - like new' well looks brand new to me - A plus and thanks c) Good condition, very interesting rare 1978 book with interesting cover (:-)! Very helpful. Thanks d) Hi, Laraine, the books arrived!!!! thanks so much!!! I wish
you a very very merry chirstmas and an excellent new year! all the
best. e) Exactly as described. Packaged very well. Arrived quickly from England. Excellent service, thank you very much f) Excellent service! Goods as described arrived securely well before delivery estimate. A pleasure to deal with. g) Excellent service! I received my order (from UK to Japan) in less than a week. And in perfect condition. Exactly like new. I would recommend this seller. h) Excellent service, quick delivery, would buy again with confidence A++++++ j) Gute und sichere Lieferung. Ware wie angegeben. Vielen Dank k) Rapide, comme dans l'annonce. Aucun problème http://www.fantasticliterature.com We also buy books and travel around the country to purchase, we will pay a finders fee to anyone who puts us in touch with a collection we later purchase. Instant ordering on our web site in small press, magazines and special offers. http://www.fantasticliterature.com Good reading and watching - Simon & Laraine. Fantastic Literature Limited 35 The Ramparts Rayleigh Essex, SS6 8PY United Kingdom Previous OotW - archives OotW121. OotW122. OotW 123, OotW 124, OotW 125, OotW 126, OotW 127, OotW 128, OotW 129, OotW 130, OotW 131, OotW 132, OotW 133, OotW134, OotW135, OotW136, OotW 137, OotW138, OotW 139, OotW 140, OotW141, OotW 142, OotW 143, OotW144, OotW145, OotW146. OotW147, OotW148, OotW149, OotW 150, OotW151, OotW 152, OotW 153, OotW 154, OotW155, OotW156, OotW157, OotW 158, OotW159
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