The Tentacled Monkey

So I read this little gem of a story by Cory Doctorow this morning and I really liked it. And while I don’t explicitly believe in his “experiment” or his views on copyright, you cannot doubt that his short stories are great.

This story follows Felix and Van two system administrators who are trying to keep the major Canadian backbone of the Net online after a series of catastrophes have brought about a worldwide apocalypse. It’s a good story, and to prove it (only if awards are your thing I suppose) it won the 2007 Locus award for best novelette.

• When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth at Baen’s Universe
• When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth at Doctorow’s Craphound

On a completely different note I need to figure out if and how short stories will add into my overall total for the 45 books in 2010. I’m thinking 2-1 if they are novellas, or 3 or 4-1 for novelettes. Hell I might not even care.

MurfMan Books, Geek, SciFi 45 Books, Doctorow, SciFi, Short Story

On Saturday I finished the vastly popular Pride Prejudice and Zombies from Quirk Press. The basic premise is that of a Victorian England story of misunderstood love that everyone is familiar with thanks to the forced reading of the novel in high school and from the excellent BBC productions that have been produced over the years. There is one major difference however, the addition of a strange plague that has afflicted England’s corpses reanimating them into the “unmentionables” (zombies) “denizens of Satan” with a penchant for brains.

At first, I wasn’t too sure about this book and therefore left it alone for the better part of a year, but my resolve and curiosity finally gave way and it was added to the Queue. This was a really fun book to read and honestly was hard to put down. It was fun and funny and really kept me interested even though I knew the main plotline almost as well as the back of my right hand.

It is campy with lots of innuendos about England’s “balls” and I was happy to see Mr. and Mrs. Bennett still are the primary humor for the story. I won’t go into the prime differences as they are far too numerous to list. But just know that if you LOVE the original you likely won’t enjoy this version. But, for those of us that are casual fans or totally unfamiliar with the story it will be a really funny read. I can say that reading this has actually made me want to read the original because you realize how very good it really is. So I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Now for the next on the reading list is Poison Sleep by T.A. Pratt, book 2 of the Marla  Mason  series, I’m already about half-way through so another post on it should follow this week.

This means that I am still on tract for the 45 books this year. Yippee to me, prematurely at least.

MurfMan Books, SciFi 45 Books, Books, review, TA Pratt, zombies

MurfMan SciFi Culture, Fan Film, video

So I just finished First Lord’s Fury, the sixth and final book in the Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher. This book held a lot of meaning for me and others that are fans of Mr. Butcher’s other excellent series, The Dresden Files. The reason is this, Butcher has never wrote an ending until now. Sure he has written about seventeen books total, some very successful, but he has never ended a series. So this book held the expectations of all of his fans, and might I add that he delivered in spades.

Without spoiling too much, the entire book is a war against the Vord as introduced in the first novel and expanded upon in later ones. Character progression is great, the plot has enough twists and turns to keep you interested. To put it bluntly, it was an awesome read and a worthy finale to an excellent series.

Also finished last night was Use of Weapons by the man quickly becoming my favorite sci-fi author, Scotsman Iain M. Banks. This is another of The Culture series and follows a mercenary named Chernadine Zakalwe in a double story, one set in the past, one current. The theory here is that since The Culture is basically against violence, they find highly capable military professionals to work on their behalf. Zakalwe is one of these recruits, a veritable genius of military action used on countless worlds by The Culture. The story follows his exploits, but is truly about his hidden demons.

This is another shining example of Mr. Bank’s shear superiority of, not just the space opera, but of just damn good story-telling to boot. This is another must read for sci-fi fans out there.

So, next on the reading list is Singularity Sky by Charles Stross. This is a book that I have been meaning to read for a year now, and well no time like the present I suppose.

MurfMan Books, SciFi Charles Stross, Codex Alera, Culture, Iain Banks, Jim Butcher, review, SciFi

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was an interesting twist on the common urban fantasy story. I will be looking forward to further books in this series! I really liked the Norse connection here, being a big fan of Norse mythology and Rune lore in general this was a very enjoyable romp through a modern re-visioning of of Norse gods and monsters.

View all my reviews.

This was made using the GoodReads Review widget that will export to HMTL. I like it since it has the image link and everything in it already.

MurfMan Books, SciFi Books, Norse, review, SciFi, Urban Fantasy

If you missed collecting “Farscape” on DVD during its initial release, we have good news for you.  The long out-of-print series is coming back to DVD this November.

The set will be launched at a panel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con and is being picked up by A&E Home Video.  The set will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the show.

When a freak accident during an experimental space mission catapulted Astronaut John Crichton (Ben Browder) across a thousand galaxies to an alien battlefield, a cult classic was born with the epic, adventure-filled TV series Farscape. The award-winning fan favorite show, which ran from 1999-2003 on Sci Fi and was named by TV Guide as one of television’s best cult shows ever, is about to blast off again on DVD courtesy of a pact between A&E Home Entertainment and The Jim Henson Company.

Blasting off in November 2009, as the show marks its 10th Anniversary, the treasure of the newly re-packaged DVD line will feature a Farscape home entertainment first: THE COMPLETE SERIES MEGASET. Never before available in one package, A&E Home Entertainment brings together all four out-of-this-world seasons with countless hours of absorbing bonus programming featuring multiple commentaries, interviews with cast and crew, behind-the-scenes featurettes and much more! Single season collector’s sets will also be released, offering genre fans of all walks the opportunity to sample this superlative sci-fi classic.

To launch this eagerly-anticipated re-release, there will be a Farscape panel convening at this year’s Comic-Con International in San Diego. Executive producer Brian Henson, creator Rockne O’Bannon, and stars Ben Browder and Claudia Black (Officer Aeryn Sun) will be in attendance to discuss their favorite moments from the series and the DVD re-release.

From Slice of Scifi

MurfMan News, SciFi, TV DVD, Farscape, SciFi

The estate of Adrian Jacobs is suing best-selling author J.K. Rowling over claims that the Harry Potter books allegedly copy Jacob’s novel, “Willy The Wizard.”

According to the suit, “Willy” follows a child discovering he has magical powers and was published ten years before the first “Harry Potter” book was published and three years before Rowling says she dreamed up the Harry, Ron and Ginny.

He allegedly sent the manuscript to Christopher Little, the literary agent at Bloomsbury Publishing who went on to represent Miss Rowling, but it was rejected.

Instead his book was published by a smaller company under the title The Adventures Of Willy The Wizard No 1: Livid Land.

Mr Jacobs, who lost all his money in a stock market crash in 1991, died in 1997, so did not live to see the Harry Potter books’ success.

But his estate – which includes his son and grandson – now claims Miss Rowling’s fourth book, Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, was plagiarised [sic].

In both books, the boy wizard competes in a magic contest.

The lawsuit also notes both have the boys trying to rescue human hostages held by half-human creatures from a bathroom.

Shared references to a wizard train and a wizard prison are also part of the allegations.

Legal proceedings have been issued at the High Court against Bloomsbury, and the Jacobs estate also says it will file a lawsuit against Miss Rowling.

The estate is also seeking an injunction to prevent further sales of Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, and damages or a share in the book’s profits.

from Slice of Scifi
by Michael Hickerson

MurfMan Books, Geek, News, SciFi Harry Potter, plagiarism, Rowling

Every time you read a book in a genre you love you always end up, subconsciously or consciously, comparing it to your mind’s own vision of that genre. Usually this is another book you have read in the past that is for you the closest to what your mind’s eye sees of that genre.

In my case for the last several months every time I read science fiction of any type, from Cherryh to Stross, I find myself comparing it to one novel in particular. The funny thing is that when I read it I thought it a great book, but would not have put it at the top of my sci-fi pile. But as time goes on I realize that so far Consider Phlebas is my quintessential sci-fi.

This actually came as a surprise to me, although now I am not sure why, but really it does make perfect sense. It has everything that a great space opera should have: action, intrigue, aliens, sex with strange furry proto-human females, and a super advanced society capable of giving its inhabitants anything they desire. Seriously, what’s not to love?

So now I am reading the second novel in the Culture series, The Player of Games, and while it is told from the viewpoint within Culture whereas Consider Phlebas was told from without, it is still shaping up to be an excellent read. Part of the reason for that I think is because of Mr. Bank’s voice throughout both novels so far. There is no struggle to read it and in fact it flows from one line to the next, from one page to the next.

I honestly have not been so keen to finish a series since I first found Jim Butcher’s amazing Dresden Files or Charles Stross’s Laundry series. Iain M. Banks’ Culture is the reading list through the summer.

MurfMan Books, Personal, SciFi Books, Culture, Iain Banks, SciFi

Every once in a while you come across a book that forces you to think in ways that you don’t normally. Well every book lets us see through the eyes of a different pair of eyes, allowing us access to a worldview that we might not know of. This is what makes reading so fun, we love to live vicariously through the lives of the characters we read about. To love with them, cry with them, and at times die with them give us each a little bit of insight into a different set of possibilities.

When we read science fiction, we typically take those known world views and ignore them, giving us a glimpse of an alien culture (whether it is actually alien or simply so high tech that it seems foreign) that we can live in for a time. Sometimes, however, a book comes around that seems so familiar that it could be your worldview, and yet at the same time is quite alien. Those books typically give us more insight about us as a culture and a race than many others.

Anathem is one of those books.

The story is centered around a society in which most of the highly intelligent have been placed into monastic-like Maths, where the inhabitants, called the Avout, are sequestered off from normal everyday living as we know it. To summarize 900 pages is not simple so let this suffice:

Anathem is a novel of speculative fiction set on a world where scholars live apart from the rest of society at a time when great events are breaking down traditional barriers. The novel involves numerous ideas in physics, cosmology and philosophy as well as social commentary, mixed in with science fiction concepts and an adventure as the main characters cope with their own world and try to understand a great secret that will change everything.

– Anathem Wikia Site

This book is good. Not good like the Dresden Files’ entertaining romp through urban fantasy. No it’s good like reading Descartes, Archimedes, Einstein, Plato, Socrates, Gödel, Husserl, Thales, and many others and understanding them all. Mr. Stephenson, he gins the Mister from here on out as a prominent term of respect, has done what many have failed to do for some of us during college, give us a rudimentary understanding of Philosophy, Physics, and Quantum Mechanics.

This book is pivotal for me personally as it brought back to mind many of the old thought experiments I would play with friends in school and in college with my Philosophy professors. It also reminded me that, even though I am stuck here physically away from friends that I mss dearly because of the lack of those conversations mentioned earlier, I can still hold such discussions in mind just as an Avout from some far off Math might have on Arbre.

This book has a permanent spot on my bookshelf, and we be re-read numerous times. It is a wonderful read, if a bit slow at first. And it is nothing like Stephenson’s other work. Well I could see some ties to Cryptonomicon but only in his breadth of knowledge and attempts at relaying that across to the reader, something he does far better in Anathem.

Anathem Video Widget

MurfMan Books, Personal, SciFi Anathem, Books, SciFi, Stephenson

Anna Torv as Agent Olivia Dunham in ‘There’s More Than One Of Everything’

There’s only one episode left to complete the excellent debut first season of J.J. Abrams’ Fringe.

The season finale is Fringe’s twentieth episode. Titled ‘There’s More Than One Of Everything’, it promises to answer many questions…and raise many more when it hits fans with a “mind blowing ending.”

In this article you can watch the trailer, check out eight promo images, and at the very end we’ve included a few spoilerific tidbits.

First, the official press release synopsis:  Setting the stage for the dramatic and revealing first season finale are a sudden and unexpected attack on someone with close ties to Fringe Division, the return of bioterrorist David Robert Jones (Jared Harris) and the inexplicable disappearance of Walter. Find out more about the mysterious events surrounding our trio when questions are answered, observations made, loyalties are tested and the elusive William Bell (Leonard Nimoy) is finally introduced.

Watch the promo:

Eight promotional images:

Fringe 1.20 ‘There’s More Than One of Everything” airs Tuesday, May 12 (9:01-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX and (FR-120) (TV-14 V).

Not enough for you?  Then here’s a couple of spoilers:

*Spoilers below*

Executive Producer reveals: “Olivia is gonna find herself in an odd position. She’s been searching for [William Bell] looking for answers as to what experiments he may have done to her [as a child], but suddenly she’s goingto have to protect Bell from a familiar foe.”

Co-Executive Producer Roberto Orci teases: “Look for a very special gravestone and [take note of] whose name is on it.  My God [I just gave you] a big puzzle piece.”

Orci adds: “We were saving so many juicy secrets for years and years, and we’re actually going to stick a bunch of them in the finale. That may be the worst idea ever, but we’re doing it.”

Anna Torv (Agent Olivia Dunn) adds: “I can’t say anything about the grave. But that’s a big plot [twist]. The grave is the key.”

Leonard Nimoy serves up insight on his appearance in the finale as William Bell:  “It’s one scene. It’s the final scene of the episode, in which I appear with Olivia, with Anna Torv’s character. It’s very brief, but I think interesting, entertaining and there’s enough given in the scene to whet your appetite, that you’ll want to see more of this relationship and what it’s all about. You’ll want to know what it is he has in mind with Olivia, what he wants or needs her for, why he wants to see her, what their past history is about and where they’re going together. What are they planning to do? What are his intentions? All of that is yet to come, and I think there’s going to be some very interesting storytelling.”

Source(s):  Ausiello / ODI / Sci Fi Wire

[From SciFi Scoop]

MurfMan News, SciFi, TV Fringe, Nimoy, TV