Shortlisted
The nominations for the World Fantasy Awards have been posted in the last few days and I was bowled over to see that our own Ariel and The Alien Online have been nominated in the special category which recognises non professional contributions to the SF&F community. Its well deserved as Ariel, Sandy and the rest of the TAO crew have made a great site over the last few years.
I've loved writing for TAO (it's very rewarding when you see quotes from reviews and interviews from the site being used on book covers) and it is also great to see a major award recognising how much of the worldwide SF&F community is held together by folks giving up their time to run fanzines, websites, newsletters, cons and clubs - hopefully more awards will follow suit in the future. Actually I was so delighted I blogged it twice - it just had to go on the FPI blog!
I also heard from one of my colleagues behind the new FPI magazine who said he'd been receiving some great feedback from readers. He was also kind enough to pass on a generous comment from a reader who enjoyed my article on 6 books you should have on your shelves and felt they wanted to read them (which is a very rewarding feeling for a booklover). For this first article I chose a theme of books with a dream-like (or nightmare-like) quality to them; the sort of tales that not only have an ephemeral quality to them but also linger in your mind long after, the imagery weaving in and out of your dreams. For anyone interested the books were:
American Gods, Neil Gaiman
White Apples, Jonathan Carroll
Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
Prospero's Children, Jan Seigel
Lanark, Alisdair Gray
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson
If you haven't read any of these they are all quite wonderful books. I'm just polishing off the article for the second issue (6 books again) and I'll talk about those after the publication. On teh book front I was sent a finished copy of Nova Scotia by the nice people at Edinburgh's Mercat Press. Its a rather tasy anthology of Scottish Speculative Fiction and includes tales from many writers I admire, including Ken MacLeod, Charlie Stross, Debbie Miller, Matthew Fitt, Willie Miekle and Jack Deighton (who wrote a fantastic SF novel a few years back, A Son of the Rock, which criminally didn't sell - I thought it was superb, but maybe it was too serious for popular taste. Jack, if you read this I'd love to see another full-lenght novel from you).
Hal Duncan is also in there; his incredible debut novel, Vellum, out at the Worldcon in Glasgow this weekend. Like Nova Scotia it's one of my Book Picks for the FPI mag's new books section and honestly it's one of the most amazing books I've read; incredibly lush prose, descriptions so well articulated you feel you're there and layer upon layer of interlocking characters and stories and myth. A word of warning though, Vellum demands of its readers that they think; so if you're the type of reader who actually wants to engage your cognitive faculties and your imagination then I can't recommend it enough. Gee, anyone looking at this blog might get the impression I like books!
Wednesday, August 3, 2005
Things that have been making me think
Why is there a regular aroma of French Toast in the stairwell of my tenement? Almost every day this last week at all sorts of different times I've sniffed the distinct smell of someone cooking French Toast. I like French Toast but obviously one of my neighbours really loves it. Or they have a really unusual air freshner.
Why have I had a recurring short dream where the theme to Bonanza is being played on an electric guitar with a Wah Wah pedal?
Why has the theme for Hawaii Five-O been going through my head during the waking times, along with the urge to imitate the native canoeists in the opening credit through the medium of mime?
Is it too late to stage a one-man show at the Fringe about a man trying to create his own graphic novel based upon a musician who plays Bonanza on an electric guitar with a Wah Wah pedal while secretly worrying he should be miming canoeing to the theme fromHawaii Five-O? Hey, I've seen worse at the Fringe! And maybe I could sell the idea to Fantagraphics. Or if I add a schoolgirl who turns into a super-powered kitten when she wears magic panties to the mix I could make a Manga of it.
Why is there a regular aroma of French Toast in the stairwell of my tenement? Almost every day this last week at all sorts of different times I've sniffed the distinct smell of someone cooking French Toast. I like French Toast but obviously one of my neighbours really loves it. Or they have a really unusual air freshner.
Why have I had a recurring short dream where the theme to Bonanza is being played on an electric guitar with a Wah Wah pedal?
Why has the theme for Hawaii Five-O been going through my head during the waking times, along with the urge to imitate the native canoeists in the opening credit through the medium of mime?
Is it too late to stage a one-man show at the Fringe about a man trying to create his own graphic novel based upon a musician who plays Bonanza on an electric guitar with a Wah Wah pedal while secretly worrying he should be miming canoeing to the theme fromHawaii Five-O? Hey, I've seen worse at the Fringe! And maybe I could sell the idea to Fantagraphics. Or if I add a schoolgirl who turns into a super-powered kitten when she wears magic panties to the mix I could make a Manga of it.
Chocolate
How good is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory??? Roald Dahl and Tim Burton - a great combination; I came out with a grin larger than a Cheshire Cat's and having to restrain the urge to sing and dance the Willy Wonka song. Mel and I also came out with an overpowering desire for chocolate... Lapping up the style, the dark overtones and the lavish visuals part of me was also thinking throughout the movie 'chocolate, chocolate, chocolate...' And since I generally believe in giving in to these impulses, naturally I stuffed myself with some quality choc afterwards... Chocolate is good... The trailer for Burton's Corpse Bride looks wonderfully ghoulish as well.
Mel and I also caught Festival at the cinema. I expected a passable wee film about jaded comedians on the Edinburgh Fringe circuit, but it was way better. Funny, satirical, frantic and also parading its fair share of pretentious shows and, let's be honest, the wank which goes with much of it, it was a bit like a microcosm of the Festival itself, the great bits and the wanky bollocks of it together. And Daniel Nardini getting her kit off didn't hurt either! Actually there was a fair bit of the old rumpy pumpy in it. And we also got to play the 'guess which Edinburgh pub they're filming this scene in' game.
Oh yes, Festival Time is upon us in Edinburgh, as the population will practically double in the next few weeks and the world's biggest arts festival gets underway (with the aforementioned mix of humour, greatness and sheer art wank). Blues and Jazz Fest is underway, Fringe is about to begin (we can see them preparing one of the many venues right under the FPI store), Festival and Book Fest just after that and my fave, the Film Festival. I've got that week off (my first holiday I've taken in my new job) and I'm going to enjoy a nice load of diverse movies.
Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean's MirrorMask and Romero's Land of the Dead mixed with a new French film with Daniel Auteil and Gerard Depardiue together - I know little of this movie, but if it has these two in it I'm there! France's two best living actors - for a movie buff this is akin to when Michael Mann put Al Pacino and Bob DeNiro together for Heat. Hopefully like last year I'll do a write-up on a few bits of it and try and get a few pics at the Q&A's which often accompany some of the films like I did for last August's blog. There's a classic retrospective on too which I need to book more of - already got A Matter of Life and Death booked, the classic war movie with a very young David Niven as a bomber pilot on a failing plane returnign from a mission, suspended between life and death. It has the classic scene of him on a literal stairway to Heaven, it really is a remarkably unusual bit of classic Brit fantasy and I'm looking forward to seeing it on the big screen for the first time, always a different experience to watching on DVD.
I also saw in the new Empire movie mag that one of the no-budget movies I reviewed last year for the Alien Online has a more general release, Primer. Made by a bunch of friends it is an intriguing time-travel-paradox story made on a shoestring and will appeal to those who enjoy very indy movies or a nice bit of cerebral SF. Looking forward to finding other little gems like this at this year's bash - it is one of the great things about the EIFF is the chance to see some material you may otherwise never watch and I love finding an unusual indy film as much as I enjoy finding indy books for the graphic novel site; its often where you find the most challenging work in a genre.
How good is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory??? Roald Dahl and Tim Burton - a great combination; I came out with a grin larger than a Cheshire Cat's and having to restrain the urge to sing and dance the Willy Wonka song. Mel and I also came out with an overpowering desire for chocolate... Lapping up the style, the dark overtones and the lavish visuals part of me was also thinking throughout the movie 'chocolate, chocolate, chocolate...' And since I generally believe in giving in to these impulses, naturally I stuffed myself with some quality choc afterwards... Chocolate is good... The trailer for Burton's Corpse Bride looks wonderfully ghoulish as well.
Mel and I also caught Festival at the cinema. I expected a passable wee film about jaded comedians on the Edinburgh Fringe circuit, but it was way better. Funny, satirical, frantic and also parading its fair share of pretentious shows and, let's be honest, the wank which goes with much of it, it was a bit like a microcosm of the Festival itself, the great bits and the wanky bollocks of it together. And Daniel Nardini getting her kit off didn't hurt either! Actually there was a fair bit of the old rumpy pumpy in it. And we also got to play the 'guess which Edinburgh pub they're filming this scene in' game.
Oh yes, Festival Time is upon us in Edinburgh, as the population will practically double in the next few weeks and the world's biggest arts festival gets underway (with the aforementioned mix of humour, greatness and sheer art wank). Blues and Jazz Fest is underway, Fringe is about to begin (we can see them preparing one of the many venues right under the FPI store), Festival and Book Fest just after that and my fave, the Film Festival. I've got that week off (my first holiday I've taken in my new job) and I'm going to enjoy a nice load of diverse movies.
Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean's MirrorMask and Romero's Land of the Dead mixed with a new French film with Daniel Auteil and Gerard Depardiue together - I know little of this movie, but if it has these two in it I'm there! France's two best living actors - for a movie buff this is akin to when Michael Mann put Al Pacino and Bob DeNiro together for Heat. Hopefully like last year I'll do a write-up on a few bits of it and try and get a few pics at the Q&A's which often accompany some of the films like I did for last August's blog. There's a classic retrospective on too which I need to book more of - already got A Matter of Life and Death booked, the classic war movie with a very young David Niven as a bomber pilot on a failing plane returnign from a mission, suspended between life and death. It has the classic scene of him on a literal stairway to Heaven, it really is a remarkably unusual bit of classic Brit fantasy and I'm looking forward to seeing it on the big screen for the first time, always a different experience to watching on DVD.
I also saw in the new Empire movie mag that one of the no-budget movies I reviewed last year for the Alien Online has a more general release, Primer. Made by a bunch of friends it is an intriguing time-travel-paradox story made on a shoestring and will appeal to those who enjoy very indy movies or a nice bit of cerebral SF. Looking forward to finding other little gems like this at this year's bash - it is one of the great things about the EIFF is the chance to see some material you may otherwise never watch and I love finding an unusual indy film as much as I enjoy finding indy books for the graphic novel site; its often where you find the most challenging work in a genre.
Monday, July 18, 2005
New blog
One of my friends has finally relented and decided to join the the international family of bloggers. He's a well-read and well-informed chap and I'm looking forward to reading his new blog, the Silvereel, which has begun with a list of Desert Island Books (an interesting and varied mix). He also warns that the list is likely to change at no notice.
That's the problem with making these sorts of lists - I had a bugger of a time trying to come up with my top ten graphic novels for the recommends section on the new FPI site and most folk who contributed had similar problems. And as you look at other folks' selection or entries on the site you realise your top ten needs to actually have about 40 books minimum... I have the same problem with prose novels and movies. I do have a top ten of movies, but it changes from time to time and other than the number 1 spot I can't actually place the others in any special order,but here we go anyway:
Seven Samurai
LA Confidential
Dark City
Grosse Point blank
Casablanca
Amelie
Citizen Kane
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Memento
and my all-time favourite, John Paul Rappenau's Cyrano de Bergerac.
Bubbling under are too many other films I'd like to be in the list too - ten just isn't enough! Buster Keaton's Steamboat Bill Jnr would need to be in there, so would Miyazaki's Spirited Away, Heathers, Brazil, Disney's version of Alice in Wonderland, Delicatessen, Donnie Darko... Oh, you see what I mean about trying to narrow down the list?
I guess we can expand it by doing top ten genre lists (this post is becoming like High Fidelity now, isn't it?). I could do top comedy films in which case Blazing Saddles has to be at the top (I love Mel Brooks) as would Young Frankenstein. Animal House has to be in that list, along with Monty Python's Life of Brian and Holy Grail and short reel classics like Harold Lloyd, Tom and Jerry, Bugs Bunny and, of course, Laurel and Hardy.
But I see my girls are hinting heavily that its time to get the ball of wool out and entertain them so I'll cease from any further lists for the evening - anyone else want a go? General top ten or by genre.
One of my friends has finally relented and decided to join the the international family of bloggers. He's a well-read and well-informed chap and I'm looking forward to reading his new blog, the Silvereel, which has begun with a list of Desert Island Books (an interesting and varied mix). He also warns that the list is likely to change at no notice.
That's the problem with making these sorts of lists - I had a bugger of a time trying to come up with my top ten graphic novels for the recommends section on the new FPI site and most folk who contributed had similar problems. And as you look at other folks' selection or entries on the site you realise your top ten needs to actually have about 40 books minimum... I have the same problem with prose novels and movies. I do have a top ten of movies, but it changes from time to time and other than the number 1 spot I can't actually place the others in any special order,but here we go anyway:
Seven Samurai
LA Confidential
Dark City
Grosse Point blank
Casablanca
Amelie
Citizen Kane
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Memento
and my all-time favourite, John Paul Rappenau's Cyrano de Bergerac.
Bubbling under are too many other films I'd like to be in the list too - ten just isn't enough! Buster Keaton's Steamboat Bill Jnr would need to be in there, so would Miyazaki's Spirited Away, Heathers, Brazil, Disney's version of Alice in Wonderland, Delicatessen, Donnie Darko... Oh, you see what I mean about trying to narrow down the list?
I guess we can expand it by doing top ten genre lists (this post is becoming like High Fidelity now, isn't it?). I could do top comedy films in which case Blazing Saddles has to be at the top (I love Mel Brooks) as would Young Frankenstein. Animal House has to be in that list, along with Monty Python's Life of Brian and Holy Grail and short reel classics like Harold Lloyd, Tom and Jerry, Bugs Bunny and, of course, Laurel and Hardy.
But I see my girls are hinting heavily that its time to get the ball of wool out and entertain them so I'll cease from any further lists for the evening - anyone else want a go? General top ten or by genre.
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Starfleet bear
Remember a couple of months back (was it really that long ago already? Where did that time go?) when I was talking about visiting some friends to see their new baby and the incredibly cute Starfleet teddy bear I'd gotten him? Well, his dad just sent me a new pic of him with Cap'n Bear (who I still think has more acting ability than Shatner). And I thought his grinning visage with Cap'n Bear would go well with the picture of Dizzy in spreading some nice thought after continually grim new bulletins. How totally cute does the wee man look here?
Speaking of little Dizzy, Mel is off visiting family in Oslo, so I've been round taking care of Dizzy a lot. Shame I can't just bring her down to my flat for the weekend to stay with me and the girls - it would be like a pussycat sleepover party for the three of them. Except in practice it would probably freak out all three of them, so probably not the best idea! Since much of looking after her involves playing with the ball of wool, or what's left of it now, although its not clear which of us gets the most fun from that (its probably about even) and prodigious amounts of tummy tickling it's not a hard chore.
Managed to fit in a couple of movies as well - Gordon and I finally caught Batman Begins, which, of course, necessitated an adjournment to the Caley Sample Room afterwards for a discussion of it (and since we were there we had to have a few beers). On the whole not bad - draws heavily on Frank Miller's Batman Year One (not a bad thing) and there were elements of other Batman epics in there, like War Games and Contagion. Looked good too - very mean and moody with the before and after versions of Gotham working well, although the grim later version does, as many movies do, owe a huge visual debt to Blade Runner. Certainly a lot different from the Tim Burton movies, which I enjoyed, but were really Tim Burton movies, not Batman movies.
Before going round to look after Dizzy today I caught Descent, from the writer-director of the delightful werewolves versus army squaddies in the Highlands romp, Dog Soldiers. Didn't like it as much as Dog Soldiers, I have to say. Its a competent horror but not anything special like its predecessor. If you've watched a lot of horrors then you can largely guess what's going to happen, although it is nice to see a solid, workmanlike horror instead of the watered down rubbish or remakes of Eastern flicks we normally get these days (Cabin Fever last year was similar in that it broke no new ground, but was a nice return to solid horror and not Scream or I Know What Script You Rewrote For a Summer Flick). Pity the underground cannibalistic dwellers looked so much like LOTR orcs though - and it basically stole from old horrors like Death Line (in-bred cannibals living under the London underground), but passable.
Big news on the movie front was that the box office for the Edinburgh International Film Festival opened on Friday at 12pm. Unfortunately the phone line was constantly engaged and their much-vaunted new-look website they've been trumpeting was bloody useless - kept crashing, couldn't process payments or reserve tickets. Sure there would have been a lot of folk trying to get tickets as they opened at 12 but they should have been ready for that. I was desperate to get tickets for the UK premiere of Joss Whedon's Serenity (the Firefly spin off) and Dave McKean and Neil Gaiman's MirrorMask. I stopped at the box office on the way home from work and Serenity was already sold out, which really pissed me off since I had tried a number of times to book them online and on phone.
Good news is that I did get tickets for MirrorMask! I'm very pleased - been dying to see it and Neil announced on his journal that the EIFF were going to be screening it (I emailed them way back during Sundance and suggested it as a film they should pick if they could and they said they hoped to get it). I'm not sure if they've even set a release date for it in the US let alone here yet, so I'm especially pleased to get these tickets. I've been circling more films and will be taking advantage of the discount I get because of my movie pass to book a pile more (there's a French film with Gerard Depardiue and Daniel Auteil together which I'll have to see and Romero's Land of the Dead - what a mix).
Should be taking a week off to enjoy it (hard to believe by the time of the Film Fest I will have been at FPI for 6 months and its time to start thinking about taking holiday time). Website and phone problems aside its a great looking Film Fest (as always - and they always get some SF and horror in there unlike the Edinburgh Book Fest which features very little, despite the fact we have anumber of genre authors right here). Circled a pile of films I fancy, now have to check they don't clash with one another then swing by the box office to start booking some more. But tickets to MirrorMask in my pocket and I've just finished a proof of Anansi Boys - its looking like a good year for Gaiman fans!
Remember a couple of months back (was it really that long ago already? Where did that time go?) when I was talking about visiting some friends to see their new baby and the incredibly cute Starfleet teddy bear I'd gotten him? Well, his dad just sent me a new pic of him with Cap'n Bear (who I still think has more acting ability than Shatner). And I thought his grinning visage with Cap'n Bear would go well with the picture of Dizzy in spreading some nice thought after continually grim new bulletins. How totally cute does the wee man look here?
Speaking of little Dizzy, Mel is off visiting family in Oslo, so I've been round taking care of Dizzy a lot. Shame I can't just bring her down to my flat for the weekend to stay with me and the girls - it would be like a pussycat sleepover party for the three of them. Except in practice it would probably freak out all three of them, so probably not the best idea! Since much of looking after her involves playing with the ball of wool, or what's left of it now, although its not clear which of us gets the most fun from that (its probably about even) and prodigious amounts of tummy tickling it's not a hard chore.
Managed to fit in a couple of movies as well - Gordon and I finally caught Batman Begins, which, of course, necessitated an adjournment to the Caley Sample Room afterwards for a discussion of it (and since we were there we had to have a few beers). On the whole not bad - draws heavily on Frank Miller's Batman Year One (not a bad thing) and there were elements of other Batman epics in there, like War Games and Contagion. Looked good too - very mean and moody with the before and after versions of Gotham working well, although the grim later version does, as many movies do, owe a huge visual debt to Blade Runner. Certainly a lot different from the Tim Burton movies, which I enjoyed, but were really Tim Burton movies, not Batman movies.
Before going round to look after Dizzy today I caught Descent, from the writer-director of the delightful werewolves versus army squaddies in the Highlands romp, Dog Soldiers. Didn't like it as much as Dog Soldiers, I have to say. Its a competent horror but not anything special like its predecessor. If you've watched a lot of horrors then you can largely guess what's going to happen, although it is nice to see a solid, workmanlike horror instead of the watered down rubbish or remakes of Eastern flicks we normally get these days (Cabin Fever last year was similar in that it broke no new ground, but was a nice return to solid horror and not Scream or I Know What Script You Rewrote For a Summer Flick). Pity the underground cannibalistic dwellers looked so much like LOTR orcs though - and it basically stole from old horrors like Death Line (in-bred cannibals living under the London underground), but passable.
Big news on the movie front was that the box office for the Edinburgh International Film Festival opened on Friday at 12pm. Unfortunately the phone line was constantly engaged and their much-vaunted new-look website they've been trumpeting was bloody useless - kept crashing, couldn't process payments or reserve tickets. Sure there would have been a lot of folk trying to get tickets as they opened at 12 but they should have been ready for that. I was desperate to get tickets for the UK premiere of Joss Whedon's Serenity (the Firefly spin off) and Dave McKean and Neil Gaiman's MirrorMask. I stopped at the box office on the way home from work and Serenity was already sold out, which really pissed me off since I had tried a number of times to book them online and on phone.
Good news is that I did get tickets for MirrorMask! I'm very pleased - been dying to see it and Neil announced on his journal that the EIFF were going to be screening it (I emailed them way back during Sundance and suggested it as a film they should pick if they could and they said they hoped to get it). I'm not sure if they've even set a release date for it in the US let alone here yet, so I'm especially pleased to get these tickets. I've been circling more films and will be taking advantage of the discount I get because of my movie pass to book a pile more (there's a French film with Gerard Depardiue and Daniel Auteil together which I'll have to see and Romero's Land of the Dead - what a mix).
Should be taking a week off to enjoy it (hard to believe by the time of the Film Fest I will have been at FPI for 6 months and its time to start thinking about taking holiday time). Website and phone problems aside its a great looking Film Fest (as always - and they always get some SF and horror in there unlike the Edinburgh Book Fest which features very little, despite the fact we have anumber of genre authors right here). Circled a pile of films I fancy, now have to check they don't clash with one another then swing by the box office to start booking some more. But tickets to MirrorMask in my pocket and I've just finished a proof of Anansi Boys - its looking like a good year for Gaiman fans!
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Pretty Kitty
Actually, with all that's been going on recently - anarchist riots in Edinburgh over the G8 (oh that was fun - days of sirens, choppers and road closures) and the dreadful London attack I thought perhaps it would be good to post something nice. So, here's a shot I took in Melanie's garden of little Dizzy, younger sister to Zag. It's good Mel is letting her out again - she was upset again last week when the council erected speed bumps as part of a traffic calming move.
Guess where? Yes, almost exactly where the little guy was hit by a car outside her house... Naturally that brings up the 'what if?' effect; what if they had put it up a few weeks ago, but that's a game you can play forever to no real effect (and I'm sure there are lots of folk in London playing a worse version of that 'what if?' game in their heads right now, what if their wife or husband had walked that day instead of taking the tube).
Anyway, I think we need something light and lovely to clear the air, so here's my cute little Dizzy, snoozing in the garden on a summer afternoon by our feet.
Altogether now - aaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. And yes, her little white tummy is incredibly soft. She purrs like an outboard motor. Doesn't she look like she should be on one of those schmaltzy Hallmark cards?!?! Don't let the tiny body and cute look fool you though - she thinks nothing of chasing cats twice her size out of her garden! Maybe it was those Xena episodes she used to watch with me when she was a kitten.
Actually, with all that's been going on recently - anarchist riots in Edinburgh over the G8 (oh that was fun - days of sirens, choppers and road closures) and the dreadful London attack I thought perhaps it would be good to post something nice. So, here's a shot I took in Melanie's garden of little Dizzy, younger sister to Zag. It's good Mel is letting her out again - she was upset again last week when the council erected speed bumps as part of a traffic calming move.
Guess where? Yes, almost exactly where the little guy was hit by a car outside her house... Naturally that brings up the 'what if?' effect; what if they had put it up a few weeks ago, but that's a game you can play forever to no real effect (and I'm sure there are lots of folk in London playing a worse version of that 'what if?' game in their heads right now, what if their wife or husband had walked that day instead of taking the tube).
Anyway, I think we need something light and lovely to clear the air, so here's my cute little Dizzy, snoozing in the garden on a summer afternoon by our feet.
Altogether now - aaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. And yes, her little white tummy is incredibly soft. She purrs like an outboard motor. Doesn't she look like she should be on one of those schmaltzy Hallmark cards?!?! Don't let the tiny body and cute look fool you though - she thinks nothing of chasing cats twice her size out of her garden! Maybe it was those Xena episodes she used to watch with me when she was a kitten.
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