Welcome back to the Fantasy-Faction weekly round-up of all the best SFF news, fun and nonsense from around the web.
I guess the two big news items this week have been that Lance Armstrong came clean to Oprah and more snowfall once again brought the entire UK to a grinding halt. So all in all it’s been a rather miserable one but have no fear dear friends for I am aiming to brighten your day. Here for your perusal I bring you everything from Hagrid-sized Nintendo, Hobbit pancakes and Kick-Ass to Arnie Vader, Robot+Chainsaw, fruit animals and a ninja Captain Planet. Plus some of my absolute favourite HURRAH FOR SCIENCE.
Welcome to the internet.
Enjoy.
Books and publishing
Fantasy-Faction Exclusive – Fortress Frontier UK Trailer
The internet is going nuts for everything Myke Cole and we here at Fantasy-Faction were given the exclusive on the UK trailer for Myke’s latest book Fortress Frontier from Headline UK.
And if that trailer gets you excited then you can check out an excerpt from Fortress Frontier over at Tor.com
And just to make you feel ultra jealous. I have a copy of Fortress Frontier already and not only is it mind blowingly awesome but it also happens to have a very cool quote in the front cover… Alongside Mark Lawrence and Tor.com. Not too shabby aye?
Fantasy and Sci-Fi book sales 2006-2012
These statistics are only measured against certain outlets by Nielsen so it’s in no way definitive but that there is not a trend I like to see. (via IO9)
Gollancz editor extaordinaire Gillian Redfearn gives an interesting insight in to her take on the world of getting published
The Orbit books blog has an interview with Red Knight author Miles Cameron and because they’re a generous bunch, they’re also offering up a free chapter too.
Gollancz are following suit with a free chapter for the next novel Queen Of Nowhere from the queen of Sci-Fi, Jaine Fenn.
Awards Season
The Philip K Dick award nominees have been announced!
Tor books UK have a piece on their blog about their BSFA and Kitchie shortlistings. There are also some pretty cool links including one to China Mieville’s blog where you can read the short story he’s received a nomination for, 3 Moments Of An Explosion.
And Gollancz do the same but for their books, here!
The brilliant Ack-Ack Macaque by Gareth L. Powell has just hit the shelves and it’s going down a storm. So much so that the sequel has just been announced.
Magaret Atwell on George Orwell, her hero.
Sci-Fi covers – Jim Hines style
You might remember a little while ago I mentioned something called the Hawkeye Initiative where people drew Hawkeye from the Avengers in the same suggestive poses that female comicbook stars are subjected to. Well, author Jim Hines takes that idea one better and has created his own wonderful versions of classic sci-fi covers.
What’s new this week is that he’s managed to convince other authors such as Patrick Rothfuss and John Scalzi to join in on the action in aid of the Aicardi Syndrome Foundation. (Via BBC and IO9)
Graveyard Book Film?
For me he is the voice of Arrested Development and for my parents he is Richie Cunningham from Fonzi and Friends (a.k.a Happy Days) but Ron Howard is a director too and rumour has it that he’s looking to take on Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book as his next project. (via Den Of Geek)
GUMMI BEARS
One of my all time favourite films, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs is getting a sequel. When I first heard this rumour a few months ago I was apprehensive to say the least but now I’ve seen these screen shots I just… Seriously, look at all the food-y wildlife. You see that second image above? That is an exotic bird made entirely out of fruit!
If you haven’t seen Cloudy then go and buy it now. It’s my go-to, feel happy film. (Via SlashFilm)
WRITERS DRINK
Scientists have discovered that drinking alcohol officially makes you better with words. I wonder if this makes a 4-pack tax deductable.
Mega Nintendo
Fee Fi Fo Fum, how do giants play Donkey Kong? With this! This, mes amis, is a 5ft, fully operational Ninendo game pad that is made almost entirely out of Lego. Check out more images at the guy’s Flickr. (via Gizmodo)
COSPLAY
If there’s one thing that the world and I agree on it’s that cosplay is brilliant fun to see and this week we’ve been hit with some truly cracking stuff. You’ve already seen the 007 image at the top but here are a couple more that tickled me:
Dear BBC…
Dear BBC. If it comes to light that one of your most famous broadcasters is outed as one of the most prolific paedophiles of all time then the absolute last thing you should do is air a repeat episode of a childrens TV show where one of the strange monster creatures once (innocently) appeared dressed as said paedophile…
Sufficed to say, the BBC messed up royally this week. Ho-Lee-Shit indeed.
HOBBIT Pancakes
We all know that pancakes are the most amazing food in the world but they aren’t all that cool. That title is held by Party Rings because it ain’t a party without Party Rings. Well it seems that someone has taken pity on the poor pancake and pumped it full of nerd-roids to make these badboys.
Mario Kart for reelz
Official KickAss 2 Picture
The first official picture for Kick-Ass 2 was released this week. Here we have Kick-Ass (as played once again by Johnson) with new ass-kicker Colonel Stars And Stripes (Jim Carrey), leader of the new hero team, Justice Forever.
Okay, so I’m not so sure about Carrey’s prosthetics as that really is quite an eyebrow/cheeks combo but it’s cool to see that things will be as tongue in cheek and faithful to the source as ever. (Via Collider)
Arnie does Darth vadar
“We’re going to play a wonderful game called who is my daddy and what does he do?’ ‘You lack discipline, it’s time to turn this mush in to muscles.’ ‘There is no bathroom!’ ‘Come on kill me I’m here, kill me.’
More Arnie
This week Mr T-100 announced that he will appear in the forthcoming Terminator 5. Sure his acting lends itself to playing a robot but I’m guessing that he’ll instead be playing some kind of business man who the Terminators then get modelled on. Either way, it’s sure to be arse but I’ll still get excited and go see it.
Gulp…
http://vimeo.com/57937071
And while we’re speaking of Skynet, who the hell thought it would be a marvellous idea to give a robot a chainsaw? 50p says that the developers nicknamed this thing Jason…
Is the new Captain Planet a ninja?
A climate scientist has taken to Kickstarter to produce a 16 episode series of videos featuring a green ninja who aims to teach young children about how to save the earth. Think Captain Planet meets Reptile from Mortal Kombat.
Dr Who
The BBC have announced that the second half of Doctor Who series seven is set to return to our screens on Saturday 30 March, 2013. I’m so excited for these episodes! From the little we’ve seen already, I think Oswin will be a fantastic companion and that we’re getting another Gaiman penned episode is perfect.
This means the new Dr Who comes out a day before… Game Of Thrones Season 3.
GOT Season 3 Behind The Scenes
http://youtu.be/7VB0JA78wJ4
Well, this is pretty brief but it certainly makes up for the drivel that is the terrible GOT teaser I featured last week with the three-eyed crow.
For anyone wanting to remind themselves of exactly where we were left at the end of GOT season 2 then The Guardian has short but sweet recap right here.
Hurrah for Science – 3D PRINTING
We’re all aware that 3D printing is pretty much set to be the future of absolutely everything and this week has given us a whole bunch of news stories that are just crazy cool. These stories are truly mind blowing.
3D Meat
Scientists can have shown that they can artificially create actual muscles in the lab using stem cells and such. Dutch scientists even proposed a burger that will be the world’s most expensive burger. Well, they’ve just been dicked by the 3d Printing process which claims to be able to ‘print’ a burger at a fraction of the ‘grown’ price. Yup, for the small, small price of £190,000 you can have your very own printed burger. Cheese and bacon are extra. More over on the BBC. (Via Gizmodo)
3D Mobius strip House
Yup, a building that only has one side. Sounds like something from SFF but it could soon be real with the component bricks printed for perfect dimensions. Nuts.
3D Printed Prosthetic Arms
This is the cutest thing ever. This little girl isn’t able to lift her arms but with the help of science she now has access to prosthetics which usually would be far too expensive to replace as she grows but with the miracle of 3D printer tech a new set can simply be printed each time she outgrows the old ones. Hurrah for science.
.
Catch you in seven
Also, while you’re browsing the internet, if you spot anything that you think might fit in this weekly column then email it to Paul@Fantasy-Faction.com or @PaulWiseall. If I use your link I’ll be sure to give you the kudos.
Richard Marpole
Jennie Ivins
That Tardis dress is a thing of beauty…
There’s going to be a Kickass 2?! I was excited about the Krang outfit until I saw that, now I have to go scour the web for more information. I’m excited to see that Jim Carrey is joining up too! Thanks for the post =D
Haha – awesome as always, Paul. Looking forward to Kickass 2 – the first remains one of my favourite movies.
Also really loooking forward to Kickass 2! And I meant to post last week – you’re right about the last Game of Thrones teaser – what the hell was that thing all about?!