Got Any "Choose Your Own Adventure" Books to Spare?

One of the goodies in our (so far) online museum is a "Game Room", which right now has a handful of things that Curator Ed is working on.

The most interesting of the ongoing projects right now is the adventure book concept. You may remember the self-directed adventure books from the 1970s and 1980s, when they were most popular. Being published under family names such as Choose Your Own Adventure or Race Against Time, these light tomes provided adventure that you could fit in your back pocket.

Each of them had some fantastic adventure scenario and were essentially a book full of scenes. At the end of each, you were given a list of possible choices and directed to flip to a page to see the results of your decision. Even though they were pitched for the kids' market, they're kind of hard to put down, even if you were an adult.

Curator Ed has adapted a couple of them for your online distractionary pleasure, and is working on more. But we need more!

If you have any of these collecting dust in your attic/trunk/whatever, and you'd like to spread the fun, consider donating them to us. If we recieve any duplicates, we will make them available to others who will want them.

Landmail contact information can be found at our Contact/Donation page.

Speculaltive Fiction Grant for Writers Over 50; Deadline 31 March

Sorry for being late to the party on this one, but we've just found out (via BoingBoing) that the Speculative Literature Foundation's application period for the SLF Older Writers Grant will be closing soon, on 31 March.

This is a one-time grant of $750 and, being a grant, you can spend that any way you wish. You have to be 50 years old or older, and you have to be trying to break into the business.

Time is short to apply, but the list of applications materials seems short and sweet, and anyone trying to work professionally doubtlessly either has these to hand or can work them up quickly.

Technorati Tags: Grants, Speculative Fiction Writing, Older Writers

2009 Hugo Nominees Announced

Heading off the roster are the Best Novels:

Best Novel
(639 Ballots)

• Anathem by Neal Stephenson (Morrow; Atlantic UK)
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins; Bloomsbury UK)
• Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (Tor Teen; HarperVoyager UK)
• Saturn’s Children by Charles Stross (Ace; Orbit UK)
• Zoe’s Tale by John Scalzi (Tor)

For the rest of the list, go to the Hugo Awards site here.

The Anticipation web site has links to some of the nominees' individual pages.

Technorati Tags: Hugo Awards 2009

Syfy: The New Look of The Sci Fi Channel

Stuart Elliott, The New York Times:

Plans call for Sci Fi and its companion Web site (scifi.com) to morph into the oddly spelled Syfy — pronounced the same as “Sci Fi” — on July 7. The new name will be accompanied by the slogan “Imagine Greater,” which replaces a logo featuring a stylized version of Saturn.

Read All about It here.

Technorati Tags: The Sci Fi Channel, Sci Fi, Syfy, SF In Media, SF In the News

Ellison Sues WGA, Paramount Over Star Trek TOS Script

Via Newsarama.com:

Harlan Ellison filed suit in federal court in Los Angeles on Friday
against CBS Paramount and the Writers Guild of America over his script
for “The City on the Edge of Forever,” an episode of the original Star Trek series that first aired in April of 1967.

According to the suit, Ellison claims that he has no payment or
accounting from Paramount for the exploitation of his original
teleplay; and also claims that the WGA has failed to act on his behalf
on the issue, and has breached its duty of fair representation.

Read all about it.

Got $116K? Then You Have A First Edtion Library!

Tor.com:

If any of you have a spare $116,ooo sitting around, you can purchase an impressive collection of books. The Fine Books Company recently listed a collection of all the Hugo and Nebula Award winners for Best Novel on ABE Books. Here are some details from the site:

The listing includes 126 books covering 82 titles (many titles won both awards), and 95% of the titles are signed or inscribed, and in fine or better condition. When a paperback is the true first edition, then the first hardcover is also included. In some cases, US and UK hardcovers have been included where the paperback is the true first.

Read all about it at the Tor website.

Latest Star Trek Trailer: 1.8 Mil Views in 24 Hours from Apple.com

Airlock Alpha:

The most recent trailer for the film, which featured some of the
overall story fueling the not-so-reboot reboot was downloaded more than
1.8 million times over the first 24 hours it was released on Apple.com,
breaking the single-day record for any trailer on the Web site. To not
be bested by that, "Star Trek" was downloaded more than 5 million times
since Friday, breaking the weekly record for a trailer.

Read all about it.

See it yourself here.

Race To Witch Mountain: Three Star Review from AZCentral.com

Bill Goodykoontz:

There's nothing groundbreaking about "Race to Witch Mountain," but it's
a pleasant-enough diversion. Who knows, maybe the sequel will improve
on this. Because from the looks of things at the end, there's bound to
be one.

Read the entire review.

DC Opens Website To Capitalize On Watchmen Watchers

So you've watched "Watchmen", and like it or hate it, you wonder what all this 'graphic novel' stuff is all about then. You want to read more? DC wants you to, too:

Via the MTV Networks blog Splash Page:

They watched the “Watchmen,” now what do they read? That’s the question DC Comics looks to be trying to answer with a new website and multimedia advertising campaign aiming to route moviegoers to the publisher’s broader line of contemporary titles. The new site, “After Watchmen, What’s Next?” launched this week, and while everyone continues to analyze the $55.7 million opening weekend for “Watchmen,” DC Comics seems to recognize the data’s most inherent conclusion: millions of people paid to see an R-rated film that wasn’t based on their mainstream heroes.

Visit the DC "What's Next" site via this link.

Two New Wings: The Virtual Museum Remodel Continues!

Two new wings have been worked on. Work continues, but there is something there to see!

1. The Game Room: Curator Ed has been working on formatting some of the old "Choose Your Own Adventure" style books to online format for the enjoyment of all. These books, with adventures in SF but in other genres as well, took the adventure to the reader by positing situations and asking the reader to make a choice at the end of each scene. Each book contained many more stories than the modest page counts. If you'd like to play along, go to The Game Room from the Destinations list (this is still very much under construction!)
2. Our Favorite Links: The newly-rethought Links page is growing. Currently there are links to four great omnibus SF sites and more than a dozen authors but we intend to be growing this all the time; make this your one-stop shop for exploring the world of SF. We intend to list links to great TV shows and movie sites, more authors, more fan sites for famous book series, and SF personalites. Choose SF Links from the Destinations list.

We pursue our goal to keep something around here changing all the time, so book mark this blog or the home page and keep an eye on the wire!

The LA Times Reviews Bradbury's "We'll Always Have Paris"

Gavin J. Grant for the LA Times:

Given his recent record, reader expectations for "We'll Always Have Paris" might understandably be on the low side -- especially given the cover, which features a grinning Bradbury holding a glowing book, Photoshopped in front of the Eiffel Tower.

And therein lies a happy surprise: Throw those expectations out the window and get ready to enjoy a fresh draft of stories the way only Bradbury can write them. Bradbury's strengths have always been in capturing something about people, places and moments. His signature tales -- "The Martian Chronicles," "Dandelion Wine," "The Fog Horn" -- wend among joy and darker emotions. Here, Bradbury often shows how much he loved the small town he grew up in, but his willingness to write about the shadows as well as the carnivals, the poison apples as well as the apple pie, is what gives his stories their depth.

Read All About It.

Make Your Own Light Saber

(via IO9)

If you're into building tech toys, you've probably wondered how easy it would be to make a light saber from off-the-shelf parts. Turns out it's actually pretty easy, and not very expensive either.

And now you can learn how to do it from io9 pal Dave Calkins, who has built his own R2D2, looks really hot dressed as a stormtrooper, and also runs the amazing RoboGames every year with Simone Davalos.

Read All About It Here.

Top 10 SF Books For Non-SF Readers

(via Suite101.com) If you think that s-f is a silly boys' genre all about star-ships and
robots battling in space, think again: and use this selection for the
unconverted as a guide.

Read more: "Top 10 Science-Fiction Books for Non-Fans: The Best S-F Novels for the Unconverted" - http://scififantasyfiction.suite101.com/article.cfm/top_10_sciencefiction_books_for_nonfans#ixzz08mCjzEPh

Nebula Award Nominees 2009 Announced

The SFWA has announced this years nominees for the 2009 Nebula Awards, to be awarded during Nebulas Weekend, 24-26 April 2009. The list:

Novels

Little Brother - Cory Doctorow (Tor, Apr08)
Powers - Ursula K. Le Guin (Harcourt, Sep07)
Cauldron - Jack McDevitt (Ace, Nov07)
Brasyl - Ian McDonald (Pyr, May07)
Making Money - Terry Pratchett (Harper, Sep07)
Superpowers - David J. Schwartz (Three Rivers Press, Jun08)

Novellas

“The Spacetime Pool” - Catherine Asaro (Analog, Mar08)
“Dark Heaven” - Gregory Benford (Alien Crimes, ed. Mike Resnick, SFBC, Jan07)
“Dangerous Space” - Kelley Eskridge (Dangerous Space, Aqueduct Press, Jun07)
“The Political Prisoner” - Charles Coleman Finlay (F&SF, Aug08)
“The Duke in His Castle” - Vera Nazarian (Norilana Books, Jun08)

Novelettes

“If Angels Fight” - Richard Bowes (F&SF, Feb08)
“The Ray-Gun: A Love Story” - James Alan Gardner (Asimov’s, Feb08)
“Dark Rooms” - Lisa Goldstein (Asimov’s, Oct/Nov 07)
“Pride and Prometheus” - John Kessel (F&SF, Jan08)
“Night Wind” - Mary Rosenblum (Lace and Blade, ed. Deborah J. Ross, Norilana Books, Feb08)
“Baby Doll” - Johanna Sinisalo (The SFWA European Hall of Fame, ed. James Morrow & Kathryn Morrow, Tor, Jun07 [trans. from the Finnish by David Hackston])
“Kaleidoscope” - K.D. Wentworth (F&SF, May07)

Short Stories

“The Button Bin” - Mike Allen (Helix: A Speculative Fiction Quarterly, Oct07)
“The Dreaming Wind” - Jeffrey Ford (The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales, ed. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, Viking, Jul07)
“Trophy Wives” - Nina Kiriki Hoffman (Fellowship Fantastic, ed. Martin H. Greenberg and Kerrie Hughes, DAW Books, Jan08)
“26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss”- Kij Johnson (Asimov’s, Jul08)
“The Tomb Wife”- Gwyneth Jones (F&SF, Aug07)
“Don’t Stop” - James Patrick Kelly(Asimov’s, Jun07)
“Mars: A Traveler’s Guide” - Ruth Nestvold (F&SF, Jan08)

Scripts

The Dark Knight - Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan, David S. Goyer (Warner Bros., Jul08)
WALL-E” Screenplay - Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter (Walt Disney June 2008)
The Shrine - Brad Wright (Stargate Atlantis, Aug08)

Norton

Graceling - Kristin Cashore (Harcourt, Oct08)
Lamplighter - D.M. Cornish (Monster Blood Tattoo, Book 2, Putnam Juvenile, May08)
Savvy - Ingrid Law (Dial, May08)
The Adoration of Jenna Fox - Mary E. Pearson (Henry Holt and Company, Apr08)
Flora’s Dare: How a Girl of Spirit Gambles All to Expand Her Vocabulary, Confront a Bouncing Boy Terror, and Try to Save Califa from a Shaky Doom (Despite Being Confined to Her Room) - Ysabeau S.  Wilce (Harcourt, Sep08)

Philip Jose Farmer Dead at 91

Via The Associated Press:

Philip Jose Farmer, one of the most celebrated science fiction, fantasy and short story writers of the 1960s and '70s, died Wednesday. He was 91.

Mr. Farmer died "peacefully" in his sleep, according to a message posted on his official Web site.

The longtime Peoria resident wrote more than 75 novels, including the Riverworld and World of Tiers series. He won the Hugo Award three times and the Grand Master Award for Science Fiction in 2001.

Read All About It Here.

Technorati Tags: Philip Jose Farmer, SF Authors, SF Obituaries

Welcome To The Science Fiction Museum's Blog

Hello!

I'm the webmaster for The Science Fiction Museum, a fan-inspired and fan-supported endeavor that aims to preserve yesterday's tomorrow.

This blog will chronicle the growth and development of TSFM's web presence, and will give us a chance to keep you updated on goings-on with TSFM on a more breaking basis.

The next project from here is figuring out a way to integrate this into the main website's front page, I'm imagining that there must by now be some easily available method for embedding an RSS feed.

We also want to use this blog to be our newswire–sharing headlines from the world of SF with those of you who want to know it.

We're going to surf the web so you don't have to!Technorati Tags: The Science Fiction Museum