The Allegiance of Star Wars
01/03/2007. Author Timothy Zahn interviewed about his latest novel, Star Wars: Allegiance, and his fifth Dragonback book, Dragon and Judge, which is coming out in May of this year.

Casino Royale (Mark's Take)
01/12/2006. This is probably the best James Bond on film and probably the best James Bond film, finds Mark. Daniel Craig's James Bond is gritty and mean and a lot more real, albeit still too much a superhero. He has human fallibility and he gets hurt. The story, closer than usual to the novel for a Bond film, is more like a serious spy novel and less like a children's television show.

The Prestige (Frank's Take)
01/12/2006. Filmmaker Neil Burger's The Illusionist did get a hearty movie release head start by exploring the stylistic themes of a period piece saturated in mysticism and romanticism, says Frank. As a lavish mystery thriller, The Illusionist resonated with sparkling imagination. Still, this shouldn't disqualify writer-director Christopher Nolan's penetrating The Prestige, another solid and well-crafted costume melodrama that sinks its gritty teeth in the aura of magicians and their eye-popping tricks of the trade.

The Prestige (Mark's Take)
01/12/2006. Toward the end of the 19th century two rival stage magicians compete and battle for dominance. This is a thriller, says Mark, an education in stage magic, a mystery, and even a bit of a science fiction film. Christopher Priest's novel is brought to the screen by co-writer and director Christopher Nolan in a wonderful screen adaptation. This is a film that may be more enjoyable on the second viewing once you know its secrets.

Saw III (Frank's Take)
01/12/2006. Consistency is the key to discipline ... at least according to Frank's personal philosophy. If anything, give credit where credit is due in terms of Saw III sticking to its sick-minded cinematic agenda. For starters, director Darren Lynn Bousman is back at the creepy controls in his effort to helm another macabre mincemeat sideshow.

The Grudge 2 (Frank's Take)
01/12/2006. So what do we have here, folks, asks Frank? That's right...another belaboured and brain-dead boofest that's being served up to whet our hair-raising appetites. For those of you that wanted a frantic follow up to the 2004 hit-making scarefest The Grudge then count your giddy goose bumps because director Takashi Shimizu is back in the saddle again.

Will the real Quatermass please step forward
01/12/2006. Nigel Kneale, an important force in British science fiction drama, is dead. Mark looks back at his life and his greatest creation, Quatermass, as well as his other works such as The First Men In The Moon and 1984.

An interview with Juliet McKenna
01/12/2006. Juliet E. McKenna is the author of the series The Tales of Einarinn and The Aldabreshin Compass, the final volume of which, Eastern Tide, is published by Orbit this autumn. Juliet talks about writing, reading, fitting in her novels around the school run, and the potential dangers of taking a fat cheque from film producers.

Desperately Seeking Sergei (part 1 of 2)
01/12/2006. A Psi-Kicks story by GF Willmetts.

Desperately Seeking Sergei (part 2 of 2)
01/12/2006. A Psi-Kicks story by GF Willmetts.

Dave Cockrum (1943-2006)
01/12/2006. An obituary of a comicbook artist, by GF Willmetts.

Global warming isn't Science Fiction
01/12/2006. This is the opening line of a speech by British Prime Minister Tony Blair last month. It gave Uncle Geoff pause for thought. Think about it. How many Science Fiction stories have you heard or read about which centres on global warming? A cursory look only really revealed one obscure one and I'm not even sure if it looks at contemporary effects. As to SF films and TV shows, the results have been even slimmer.

Travelling at the speed of Net
01/11/2006. Speed is relative to everything else, says Geoff. Nothing is ever stationary. Although what we see depends a lot on how far it has to travel to get to you. That's not to say there aren't absolutes. Take the speed of light. If it travelled instantaneously we'd see the night sky in a different light...literally.

Just Some Poor Lost Soul
01/11/2006. Short fiction from Lori L.E. Simpson. I wonder if you even notice me standing here, staring at you with hungry eyes. You probably think I am just another homeless weirdo, some girl after money or booze or pot.

Drew Karpyshyn interview
01/11/2006. An interview with Drew Karpyshyn, author of Star Wars Darth Bane, on how working in computer games helped Drew better understand the concepts of agency and motivation, and the differences between writing for games and writing novels.

The mystique of the fifties science fiction film
01/11/2006. This year at the World Science Fiction Convention in Los Angeles, our Mark attended a panel on the 1950s science fiction film. On the panel was Bill Warren. Now Warren has to be one of the world's leading experts on the science fiction films of the 1950s. He is the author of Keep Watching The Skies, a massive two-volume film-by-film study of science fiction films from 1950 to 1962. Bill asked the audience a question that was very apt. He wanted to know what was the special appeal of the science fiction films of that decade, the 1950s.

Readercon 17 report (Part 1 of 2)
01/11/2006. A convention report by Evelyn C Leeper. Readercon 17 was held at the Burlington Marriott, July 7th-9th, 2006. Attendance was probably around 500 people. Readercon is a literary SFF convention, so there was no art show, masquerade, etc.

Readercon 17 report (Part 2 of 2)
01/11/2006. A convention report by Evelyn C Leeper. Readercon 17 was held at the Burlington Marriott, July 7th-9th, 2006. Attendance was probably around 500 people. Readercon is a literary SFF convention, so there was no art show, masquerade, etc.

Jet Li's Fearless (Frank's take)
01/11/2006. Supposedly, says Frank, Fearless is the celebrated swan song for 43 year-old Chinese martial arts action star Jet Li. As the aging and agile butt-kicking human weapon, the jack rabbit-sized Li carries the load on his shifty shoulders in a nostalgic wushu period piece that is philosophically solemn yet kinetically impish in its reflective spirit.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre The Beginning (Frank's take)
01/11/2006. Although perversely realized, says Frank, the gross-out genre of flesh ripping apart can be somewhat invigorating if handled with a dash of imagination and reckless precision. After all, slaughterhouse cinema relies on that age-old formula of slicing-and-dicing the hormonal kiddies in order for the audience to get its sadistic, sensational rush.

The science of sleep (Mark's take)
01/11/2006. What sounded like a promising premise turns into a gratuitous exercise in not-very-interesting surrealism, says Mark. There may or may not be a complete story underneath all of this, but if there is, it is probably dull and not worth digging for. A young man returning to France after many years in Mexico finds his dreams mixing with reality until we lose interest sorting one from the other and putting together his story.

The Wicker Man (Frank's Take)
01/10/2006. Yikes! Talking about an unintentional comedy of errors, says Frank. Writer-director Neil LaBute's meandering and goofy-minded horror/suspense thriller The Wicker Man will garner more spontaneous chuckles than an overactive feather tickling a sensitive underarm. This doesn't bode very well for a moody piece that's supposed to be intriguing in its macabre skin.

Crank (Frank's Take)
01/10/2006. So folks, posits Frank, ready for another high-voltage convoluted crime drama that overdoses on its adrenaline rush faster than a junkie at a pharmaceutical convention? Well, co-writers/directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor thinks so in the monotonously mindless but colourful caper Crank. Balding British badass action star Jason Statham is at it again doing what he does best-kicking butts and aimlessly taking names.

The Covenant (Frank's Take)
01/10/2006. Poor Renny Harlin, says Frank. What in the world happened to this filmmaker to the point of despair? If one were to do a dirty laundry list of all Harlin's unappetizing flicks, they would have to invest in a soap detergent factory just to wipe off the stench. With forgettable fizzles such as Cutthroat Island, Driven, Deep Blue Sea and Exorcist: The Beginning, you would think that the misguided moviemaker would shoot for something digestible to redeem his current curse of flaccid filmmaking.

Hollywoodland
01/10/2006. In 1959 a private detective investigates the apparent suicide of George Reeves, television's Superman. This, says Mark, is an interesting film and its weak sequel inter-cut together. They had an original story in Reeves's life and the uncertainties of his death, but it did not need to be turned into film noir. The revelations are intended to be a shocking look at dirty business in Hollywood, but it rarely ever achieves even surprise. As exposes go, this one is pretty tame.

The ones who get left behind
01/10/2006. Thanks to everyone contacting me who contacted me last month after my editorial about my Mum who died in August. It really must have struck a nerve far more than my usual editorials so hope I can be excused something on a similar topic covering the aspect of grief and how it affects people.

Trailer park report: animated films
01/10/2006. As is a sort of a yearly tradition for Mark to cover the film studio presentation of upcoming films given at the World Science Fiction Convention. These presentations are a custom that goes back at least as far as MidAmericon in 1976 when a minor filmmaker, George Lucas, showed his designs for his upcoming film, Star Wars. Presentations of upcoming films for the Worldcon became common for a while but are now a dying tradition.

No Noah's Ark
01/10/2006. Flash Fiction ... Forget about global warming as there's a greater alternative coming. Alternative is the right word. I've been there and there's no getting away from it.

Notes from the (video) revolution
01/10/2006. Excuse me, says Mark, if he gets a little nostalgic for the coming of this piece of technology and how it really changed the world of the technically-inclined cinema fan. Or one like him. VCRs did not come into common use until the mid-1980s and, in fact, he did not really rush to get one.

Trailer park report: live-action films, part 1
01/10/2006. Here's Mark continuing with his coverage of the trailers for upcoming films shown at the recent World Science Fiction Convention in the USA.

Thoughts on time travel
01/10/2006. Recently I watched the film The Time Machine again. That is one science fiction film that never ages. In part that is because none of it is set in the present. This film always sparked a disagreement between Evelyn and me about the nature of time travel. Assume the story were true. If today you went down into the cellar of the Time Traveller's house, would you see the Time Traveller there frozen like a statue or would you not see him there at all?

The Illusionist (Mark's Take)
01/10/2006. In this film, finds Mark, a mystical and mysterious stage magician, Eisenheim, becomes the rage of Vienna while working out his own personal love triangle. His childhood sweetheart is now engaged to the Crown Prince. The Prince has the power of his station, and Eisenheim seems to have his own mystical powers. This is a captivating and atmospheric tale that will keep the viewer wondering what is real, what illusion.

The Hooded Man
01/10/2006. New BBC Robin Hood fantasy television series prepares to hit the small screen in the UK. In this SFcrowsnest.com feature, actor Jonas Armstrong is interviewed about his role as the proto-hoodie.

Superman Returns (Frank's Take)
01/09/2006. Could Bryan Singer's big-budgeted comic book odyssey that looks to mark the return of the Man of Steel capture the imagination once again for starved audiences looking to welcome back the Caped Wonder, muses Frank?

Snakes on a Plane (Frank's Take)
01/09/2006. It's rather tempting to see what all the fabricated fuss was about in reference to the high altitude horror show Snakes on the Plane, says Frank. Unless you were hiding under a rock on some disclosed island getaway, the Internet-based buzz about this particular movie was running rampart months before the revered reptiles took off on the runway of entertaining speculation.

X-Men: The Last Stand (Frank's Take)
01/09/2006. Sadly, X didn't mark the spot convincingly this time around for director Brett Ratner's third instalment involving our beloved mutant misfits, finds Frank. In X-Men: The Last Stand, Ratner fills up on the eye-popping action pieces and lets everything colourfully go BANG and BOOM with each overindulgent explosion.

Augusta May Willmetts, 1920-2006. My Mum
01/09/2006. Life is measured in moments, says Geoff. The moment you are born. The moment you die. Moments between can vary a lot. Exams. Jobs. Marriage. Children. Victories. Losses. Turning points. You don't remember every day and night. You just remember the moments that were important to you. Happy and sad. This is one of his sad moments.

Brothers Of The Head (Mark's take)
01/09/2006. A 1977 novella by Brian Aldiss is the basis for this punk rock pseudo-documentary about conjoined twins who become punk rock stars in the mid-1970s, says Mark. The pace is slow, the story is slight, and the music is loud. I must not have been the filmmakers' intended audience.

The Descent (Mark's take)
01/09/2006. Seemingly expanded from some horrific images from The Hobbit, The Descent is a genuinely suspenseful adventure and horror film. Some women get lost in an unexplored cave and run into man-eating cave dwellers. But the scariest monster is the cave itself.

The Great Yokai War (Mark's Take)
01/09/2006. A war is fought in one night with an evil lord and his robotic minions against humans and the monstrous spirits of Japanese folklore, finds Mark. Some of the scale of this film rivals that of The Lord Of The Rings. This is a wild adventure that is not always easy to follow, but it is a font of comedy and macabre imagination with a wonderful Japanese flavour.

Land Of The Dead (Mark's Take)
01/09/2006. What happens when after the dead have returned they set up their own society, posits Mark? George Romero continues his saga of the aftermath of the dead returning to eat the living. Romero is more interested in Technicolor gore effects and in young people shooting big guns than in telling a frightening story. If any thing he has moved from horror to science fiction. But really it is an excuse to create an action film for the teenage crowd on Friday night.

Armageddon's Children: an interview with Terry Brooks
01/09/2006. Fantasy author Brooks on why his Word and Void series could run to as many as nine or ten books, on making the connections between the present-day world of the Word and Void and the far-future world of the Shannara books, and why he thinks the SFF genre is doing just fine.

Power vacuums always fill
01/08/2006. This editorial is getting changed daily based entirely on the situation with Israel and Lebanon, says Uncle Geoff. It's one of those times where its impossible to stay within subject when there is a war escalating in the Middle East and the casualty rates rise so I hope you can forgive my concern for both sides. Let's hope any commentary will still have some meaning by the time

Torching Torchwood
01/08/2006. Doctor Who: The Torchwood Season - an appraisal by GF Willmetts. If you want to know what happened in each of the stories of the latest season of Doctor Who, says Uncle Geoff, may he recommend you look elsewhere. Certainly there is enough already on the Net to spoil any surprises you might have if you don't live in the land of its birth, Great Britain.

Interview with Josh Conviser
01/08/2006. The author of Echelon discusses his latest novel, Echelon - think spy-fi -cyberpunk spiced with Bourne Identity-style intrigue.

Time travel on television
01/08/2006. We just finished watching "Texas Ranch House" (or as Mark calls it, "Prairie Dog House") on PBS, and I have concluded that there are some major underlying problems to the whole notion of putting modern people in historical living conditions.

Against civilised warfare
01/08/2006. Nothing has done more to corrupt humanity than the attempt to civilise warfare, notes Scots science fiction author Ken MacLeod. Just War Theory is an utter perversion of the moral sense, a doctrine of literally mediaeval barbarism, invented by clerics to regulate wars between Christian kings. Its finest moral discrimination to date is that it's legitimate to kill a munitions worker on his way to work, but a crime to kill him on his way home.

A Scanner Darkly (Mark's Take)
01/08/2006. Richard Linklater adapts one of Philip K. Dick's less cinematic novels into a rotoscoped, animated film. The approach is creative, says Mark, but it still does not overcome the problems of bringing such a contemplative novel to the screen. This becomes just a bland paranoia melodrama set in a very contemporary drug culture. An interesting effort, but it does not work as a film.

Monster House (Mark's Take)
01/08/2006. A house possessed by an angry spirit turns into a monster and is ready swallow all the kids in the neighbourhood when they come trick-or-treating one Halloween, says Mark. Three brave kids have to prevent the disaster. Most of the characters are clichés, but the horror shows some imagination.

Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Mark's Take)
01/08/2006. Captain Jack Sparrow is back in a two-and-a-half-hour story (and that is just the first part) that continues from the previous Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl. Much more than the last film, finds Mark, this one returns to the franchise origins as an amusement park ride. This time this film is darker - both literally and figuratively. The characters are established so director Gore Verbinski spent less time developing them and more time skewering them or having them sword fight in rolling mill wheels. But the fun is still there.

The geography of Planet Beach
01/08/2006. There is a business near my house called Planet Beach. This name has always bothered me. You may see the name and leave it at that. I take it a step further. I start thinking about the mathematical meaning of Planet Beach.

Aaron Allston interview
01/07/2006. An interview with Aaron Allston, author of Star Wars Legacy of the Force: Betrayal. Arron talks about Sith philosophy thinking about the personal ethics of the so-called bad guys in his novels.

SciFi Soccer
01/07/2006. Given the choice between football and watching paint dry, says Uncle Geoff, he goes for the latter. Seeing a tiny air bubble burst makes his day. Correction: make that slow-drying paint just to make it more exciting.

The Da Vinci Code (Mark's Take)
01/07/2006. What appears to be a ritual murder in the Louvre leads to the discovery of secrets that could change our concept of two millennia of history. For once, says Mark, we have a thriller that is 90% idea and 10% action rather than the other way around. Ron Howard directs the film adaptation of Dan Brown's international bestseller from a script by Akiva Goldsman.

The real James Bond
01/07/2006. In a recent conversation I referred to James Bond as a super-hero, at least in the films. Not everybody agrees with me that Bond is a super-hero. He is supposed to be just very proficient at doing whatever he does. It has been a while since I have read the books. I am not sure what I say here applies to the books, but in the films I think that Bond is a super-hero and that his powers are luck and coincidence.

Superman Returns (Mark's Take)
01/07/2006. Brandon Routh steps into the cape of Superman for the first film in the series in nineteen years. Though it does not seem to hurt the film's box-office prospects, the writing of Superman Returns is full of holes and the film is poorly edited, finds Mark. Audiences may respond to the film's look at Superman's personal life, still superficial, but at greater depth than in the past. The film's subdued colours just do not work for a Superman film.

The Lake House (Mark's Take)
01/07/2006. In this movie, says Mark, A man from 2004 and a woman from 2006 are in mail communication through a magic mailbox outside the same house that each is living in his or her respective year. It could be a good idea, but the fantasy is leaden and refuses to play by the rules it itself set up. So it is not very good as a fantasy and it really does not work as a romance.

The Return of the Water Engine
01/07/2006. A friend has said that she recently had seen a news item talking about a water-powered car. She thought that she had seen the item on CNN news. At first I had wondered if it was an April Fools joke, but she had seen it in May, not on April 1st. My friend insisted that she had seen the story and she later pointed me to a reference to it. It did indeed seem to claim that there was a car with a water engine.

X-Men: The Last Stand (Mark's Take)
01/07/2006. In this film Mark discovers that The X-Men face off against the Brotherhood of Mutants in a fracas over a government-sponsored cure for mutant-ness. Are mutants going to savour their special unique natures or are they going to try to be like the "normal" population. It could be an intriguing idea, but the film does not develop the issue in any detail. And this third instalment in the series does not stand well on its own as a film. Viewers who, like me, have only passing knowledge of the X-Men will find that they may be at rather a disadvantage.

Lunacon 2006
01/07/2006. Evelyn C. Leeper brings you a convention report from the depths of the USA's Hilton Hasbrouck Heights. She looks at the state of fandom, alternative history and asks what are the out-of-print works we miss the most?

Hal Duncan interview
01/06/2006. An Interview with Hal Duncan, fantasy author of Vellum, The Book of All Hours. The Big D on trailer-park biker-chick fairies and writing around the Jungian model of the psyche.

An American Haunting (Frank's Take)
01/06/2006. Writer-director Courtney Solomon's flimsy fright fable An American Haunting couldn't scare a lobbyist from a Washington D.C. politician's picnic, finds Frank. Maybe that's because Solomon's supernatural snoozer has all the meditative vibe of a lemon-minted cough drop.

Mission: Impossible III (Frank's take)
01/06/2006. In the exhilarating and explosive action-packed flick Mission: Impossible III, our Frank sees Cruise takes another roller-coaster ride as IMF agent Ethan Hunt for the third time around. The verdict is swift and crafty: the adrenaline rush that is M:I:3 is convincingly enjoyable-MISSION accomplished.

The Da Vinci Code (Frank's Take)
01/06/2006. So the question presents itself as this: will one of the highly controversial event motion pictures of the year stack up to its enormous expectations? After all, says Frank, The Da Vinci Code has a lot riding on its explosive reputation. Not only is it based on the sensational best-selling book penned by Dan Brown, it has also created a worldwide buzz not experienced in quite some time.

See No Evil (Frank's Take)
01/06/2006. In Gregory Dark's generically drab and diluted horror flick See No Evil, the raw-looking wrestler Glen Kane Jacobs grimaces as he revels in the manufactured mayhem courtesy of Dark's lackadaisical connect-the-dots direction.

My Dudgeon
01/06/2006. There is a word you hear occasionally that really exemplifies a state of mind, says Mark. Do you like the word dudgeon? Do you know what it means? I think that may be a test of age. If you are young you probably have never heard of the word.

Wake Up
01/06/2006. Short fiction from the pen of Danny O'Connor.

Science Fiction made me do it!
01/06/2006. How many of you have been inspired by your favourite SF or horror book, film or TV series to go out and repeat an action for real or blame what you've done on said things when caught? If you haven't then put your hands down. Also put your hands down if it was only at a convention in fancy dress, you're really a cyborg or proven alien (that includes a proper medical biopsy!).

Slither (Frank's take)
01/05/2006. Writer-director James Gunn's slimy showcase Slither is indeed the epitome of hokey B-movie horror hedonism, says Frank. Instinctively, Gunn incorporates the necessary ingredients that triggers a wry and spry gross-out session: comedic chaos, stilted dialogue, both cheesy and inventive special effects, a convincing and over-indulgent ooze display, gleefully stereotypical yokels, and guilty pleasure blood-curling banality.

Illegal Prime Numbers
01/05/2006. It has come to Mark's attention that there is such a thing as an illegal prime number. Well, there are all sorts of prime numbers. There are Mersenne primes and Fermat primes for example, but this was the first he had ever heard anyone refer to there being an "illegal" prime.

Scary Movie 4 (Frank's Take)
01/05/2006. Yeah, muses Franks, we know the deal in terms of the predictable reactions that most movie reviewers and moviegoers will respond differently regarding the stale comedic crassness of yet another Scary Movie entry. See how the mean-spirited critics tear down the spoofing outrageousness of yet another tiring movie franchise that has all the durability of a stick of butter on a scorching Arizona concrete sidewalk.

The Exorcism Of Emily Rose (Mark's take)
01/05/2006. This is a courtroom drama about an alleged demonic possession and the resulting exorcism, finds Mark. The story is loosely based on real events. The Exorcism Of Emily Rose sports a very good cast, solid production values, and an intelligent script. By modern standards the gore is minimal and most of the thrills come from production craftsmanship.

Forbidden Planet's 50th
01/05/2006. Last month was a small anniversary that should not go unmentioned, says Mark. On the 15th of last month (oddly the Ides of March), we passed the 50th year since the release of one of the most imaginative and influential science fiction films ever made. That film is the visionary Forbidden Planet - once claimed to be the first science fiction film to ever take place entirely in space.

V for Vendetta (Frank's take)
01/05/2006. Let's face it ... V could also stand for vivaciously inviting, Frank discovers. First-time director James McTeigue oversees this wondrous, eye-opening piece of pumped-up popcorn entertainment. In the stylish and roguish comic book thriller V for Vendetta, robust imagery and wildly drawn English-laden anarchy go hand-in-hand in this radical escapist spectacle.

Be afraid. Very afraid.
01/05/2006. Should there be more cautionary science fiction tales, and, if necessary, add a bit of optimism while at it? Uncle Geoff investigates.

Speculation or Science Fiction Friction? (or when labels meet)
02/04/2006. There's been some recent talk about the labelling of Science Fiction, says Uncle Geoff. Old topic. Nothing learnt. Static subject. My turn to have a say on the matter. Oddly enough, this has little to do with the overall meaning of our genre. I think my definition that Science Fiction covers stories where one or more changes to reality has to be upheld throughout the story still stands.

Interview with Naomi Novik
01/04/2006. Fantasy author Naomi Novik interviewed about His Majesty's Dragon, a new book that has been described as Master and Commander meets Dragonriders of Pern. Novik talks about bringing a little Patrick O'Brian and Jane Austen to the world of sword and sorcery.

Interview with Peter Hamilton
01/04/2006. The author of Judas Unchained talks about how necessary is it for a science fiction writer to keep up with the latest theories and developments in physics and other sciences, religious fundamentalists censoring scientific inquiry, and how to keep the number of characters and sub-plots stretching across books at a dazzling level.

An Interview With Nick Scovell
01/04/2006. The adaptor and director of the theatre production of The Evil Of The Daleks talks about the trials and challenges of bringing a rather lost Doctor Who episode to the stage in the UK.

The Shaggy Dog: Frank's Take
01/04/2006. Tim Allen's latest flea-bitten family fare fluff is indeed a dog-both literally and figuratively, says Frank. In Walt Disney's klutzy canine comedy The Shaggy Dog, this gimmicky retread is another Allen-oriented vehicle that's being cranked out but protected under the convenient guise of another innocuous Disney ditty.

Where I get my other ideas from
01/04/2006. A couple of weekends ago, Scots science fiction author Ken Macleod was a Guest of Honor at Boskone. He had a great time, and would like to thank all the good folks at NESFA who made it possible. He hasn't yet had time to write a con report, though he may yet. Meanwhile, here is his GoH talk, more or less as delivered.

What I did not like about Spider-Man II
01/04/2006. Now Mark realises that most of America liked the movie Spider-Man II, he feels he should get out his list of complaints about the second film before the third launches out into the world's cinemas.

Sorry, Haters: Mark's Take
01/04/2006. In this film, Mark discovers a woman, who for no apparent reason, twists people's thoughts and actions intentionally trying to cause a disaster. The idea could and previously has been done well, but here it makes for a thoroughly unpleasant film experience.

Timothy Zahn: Outbound
01/04/2006. An interview with SFF writer Timothy Zahn, author of the Star Wars novel Outbound Flight. He talks about how Outbound Flight began life as a throwaway line, why it took so long to get out of the gate, and how the original impetus came from Lucasfilm.

V For Vendetta: Mark's Take
01/04/2006. Tyranny breeds groovy anarchy, finds Mark. A future Britain is ruled by a repressive right-wing totalitarian government. But it is about to be challenged by an anarchist swashbuckling hero in a Guy Fawkes mask. Alan Moore's graphic novel is adapted to the screen in a brash adventure. This film is a funhouse of political ideas, some of them intentionally repugnant. You may not entirely agree with the politics, but the film is darkly colourful and fun.

Philcon 2005 (Part 1 of 2)
01/04/2006. Doyen of the US SFF convention scene, Evelyn C Leeper brings you her latest con report from Philadelphia's largest annual science fiction event, Philcon. She sits in on the great SF issues of our age - debates such as Does the Hugo Still Mean Anything? and Livin' La Vida Dorka: How to Live a Fannish Life.

Philcon 2005 (Part 2 of 2)
01/04/2006. Doyen of the US SFF convention scene, Evelyn C Leeper brings you her latest con report from Philadelphia's largest annual science fiction event, Philcon. She sits in on the great SF issues of our age - debates such as Does the Hugo Still Mean Anything? and Livin' La Vida Dorka: How to Live a Fannish Life.

A box is limited only by the size of the walls you give it
01/03/2006. An ability Uncle Geoff takes for granted, is being able to look at things from different perspectives and viewpoints or what is commonly called thinking outside of the box, or really outside his own personal mindset. A useful asset for any science fiction editor or writer.

Final Destination 3: Frank's Take
01/03/2006. The reliable formula for pitting carefree teens with terrorizing forces has been an instrumental plot device in the horror genre for what seems to be an eternity in cinema, says Frank. For some inexplicable reasoning, there's a perverse pleasure in watching clueless adolescents meet their Maker in slaughterhouse fashion. Is this some hidden grim wishful thinking that slyly comments on the welcomed eradication of expendable vapid youths?

The Pink Panther: Frank's Take
01/03/2006. Somehow, it would be quite repetitive to beat the same old drum about Hollywood's insistence on revisiting favourable blasts from the past, says Frank. In a way, this latest uninspired edition of Blake Edwards's classic The Pink Panther simply upholds the overwrought trend of rehashing hits from yesteryear by giving them a contemporary makeover.

When A Stranger Calls: Frank's Take
01/03/2006. The derivative horror flick When A Stranger Calls is about as thrilling as a disconnected phone line, says Frank. Director Simon West dials up a wrong number in this flimsy remake of the 1979 B-movie thriller starring Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated actress Carol Kane and a respectable supporting cast.

Of mutant bread and Frankenstein
01/03/2006. Evelyn got a new kind of bread. It is called "Extreme Wheat Bread." Now most people would not give that a second thought. I am not most people. I am not sure what makes bread extreme. They show sweaty football players on the bag. Not a sight I like to look like over breakfast. That makes the bread experience not so much extreme as repugnant. I did notice that the bread seems to lead an unnatural life. This stuff can be weeks old and it still feels fresh.

Revolver: Mark's Take
01/03/2006. Revolver, written and directed by Guy Ritchie, comes off like Jim Thompson crossed with Philip K. Dick. It is hard to say if it will go better with a crime audience or a science fiction audience. Con games. Chess games. Mind games. They all mix in the hands of a villain you will not guess, says Mark.

The Pixelated Pixie
01/03/2006. Short fiction from the pen of Bob Lock. A touch of cyberpunk with the dormant pixie of pixels.

Miss Oberon Regrets (Part One of Two)
01/03/2006. A Psi-Kicks story by GF Willmetts.

Miss Oberon Regrets (Part Two of Two)
01/03/2006. A Psi-Kicks story by GF Willmetts.

Barb & JC Hendee interviewed
01/02/2006. One of the most famous husband and wife teams in the fantasy and horror-writing world talk about researching medieval Serbia and Yugoslavia, loving Buffy and Angel, and consider the literary mafia who make judgments as what is or isn't literature.

Religion, ethics, and genetics
01/02/2006. Mark looks at the standard Sunday school view of history and the belief that nobody would be virtuous without a fear of God. But might any ideology - and a belief in morality is an ideology - have a genetic basis instead?

Bloodrayne (Frank's Take)
01/02/2006. One must hand it to German filmmaker Uwe Boll, says Frank, in terms of being consistent when beginning this year's movie season with one of the genre's trademark vacuous video-game-to-film features. But is the movie BloodRayne more to Frank's taste? Is it heck?

Immortal (Mark's Take)
01/02/2006. In 2095 New York the Egyptian God Horus possesses a male human in order to procreate with a female alien. A Métal Hurlant sort of story is wedded to Métal Hurlant sort of visual images. The visuals may be temporarily very impressive, but the film really offers very little in story value. When it is all over, Mark thinks we are supposed to feel we have seen something momentous, but he doesn't think he knows exactly what.

Hoodwinked! (Frank's Take)
01/02/2006. There's always room for a funky-minded fairy tale presented in the form of an engaging animated feature, says Frank. Writer-director siblings Corey and Todd Edwards have a giddy blast retelling the Little Red Riding Hood story in Rashomon-style treatment in the sassy and entertaining Hoodwinked!

Godzilla: Final Wars (Mark's Take)
01/02/2006. Familiar monsters are attacking major international cities. Toho again bids farewell to their Godzilla series. This final film offers a lot of sound and fury and weaves fourteen copyright Toho monsters into one plot, but the film offers nothing that is both new and of interest. The plot is a re-tread of that of Destroy All Monsters, muses Mark. There is a lot of action and some nostalgia, but it is one of the worst Godzilla plots in years.

Don't do this at home!
01/02/2006. Kids have always played their favourite characters in their games, notes Uncle Geoff. When westerns were popular, gunfights at the OK Biscuit. Along came detective shows, it was cops and robbers. With Science Fiction, super-heroes and super-humans, the stakes just got a little higher especially when it could be enacted on TV and films. Fertile areas for games providing you didn't get too carried away with climbing instead of pretend shooting.

A conversation with Charlie Huston
01/01/2006. The author of Already Dead chats about what sets the vampires of his novel apart from the bloodsuckers familiar to readers of Stoker, Rice, and Hamilton, as well as to fans of Buffy and Angel.

Johnny And The Bomb
01/01/2006. New from the BBC, Johnny And The Bomb is a time-slip story based on the book by Terry Pratchett. It's an adventure that takes Johnny Maxwell and his pals back into the Second World War.

Schrödinger's Pill
01/01/2006. Flash fiction from the pen of Ray Tabler.

War Of The Worlds: Mark's Take
01/01/2006. This is a somewhat faithful but otherwise unsavoury and highly unsatisfying updating of the H. G. Wells novel. Aliens conquer the world in six-legged crab-like war machines, says Mark. The film has the impact of a Sci-Fi Channel film and the writing may not even be that good. Overall this is the least satisfying of the four film adaptations to date.

Aeon Flux: Frank's Take
01/01/2006. The standby decision not to screen Aeon Flux for critics may have been justified, decides Frank. After all, why would Paramount Pictures risk the uneasy notion of having sceptical movie reviewers bad-mouth their sci-fi jolting gibberish which could hurt the box office potential of seeing desirable Charlize Theron bend like a rubber pretzel in a tight-fitting black outfit?

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Frank's Take
01/01/2006. The expansive fourth instalment of the Harry Potter film series has arrived and promises not to disappoint in the latest exploits of the harried Boy Wizard, finds Frank. Director Mike Newell's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire gleefully explores its boisterous realm with skilful exuberance.

King Kong: Frank's Take
01/01/2006. So the Great Ape returns to the scene of the crime! It's very evident that a superb filmmaker in the disciplined form of Peter Jackson could bring one of filmdom's classic beloved beasts to grand cinematic life after various screen interpretations, says Frank. Jackson, the masterful helmer behind the theatrical phenomenon known as The Lord of the Rings experience, doesn't disappoint movie fans of the Huge Hairy One with his characteristic urgency of boisterous scope and precision.

The Brothers Grimm: Mark's Take
01/01/2006. The Brothers Grimm is a funhouse of ideas and visual surprises but a story with no centre and virtually no characters, says Mark. It is more imaginative than the similar Van Helsing is, but it has many of the same faults. Terry Gilliam has to realize that there is a lot more to film than creating unexpected and amazing images. There is certainly enchantment here, but the story does not do much to hold it together.

King Kong: Mark's Take
01/01/2006. Peter Jackson's long-time ambition to make a new version of King Kong is fulfilled with a great yet respectful expansion and remake, says Mark. PJ finds enough ways to improve the original film that even die-hard fans should be impressed. There is a lot of film here for a single admission ticket.

The chronicles of narnia: the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe: Mark's Take
01/01/2006. Disney Studios brings the best-known chapter of C. S. Lewis's Narnia books to the screen, says Mark. Shooting in New Zealand is only one way in which this film mimics The Lord Of The Rings. But somehow one never really cares much for the four children who generally just do the obvious. Aslan is a big lion, but also just a cipher and is much less interesting than even Kong.

Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire: Mark's Take
01/01/2006. Harry Potter's fourth outing has enough stylistic changes to keep the series interesting, discovers Mark. There is a new style with fewer sports, less frivolous humour, and a little more darkness. There is even a little romance as Harry, his friends, and the series matures.

The Impact of Rod Serling and The Twilight Zone
01/01/2006. I was this past week on a panel discussing the television show The Twilight Zone, says Mark. It brought back a lot of good memories of the late 1950s and early 1960s when my life really was divided in two pieces: watching The Twilight Zone and waiting for the next Twilight Zone. I don't think that there is any television show that had the impact on me that that series did.

That only makes it worse (or reality should depend on the hand of the writer)
01/01/2006. What tends to distinguish Science Fiction from fantasy of any sort is the avoidance of using deus ex machina, says Uncle Geoff, a rough translation of which means 'the hand of god', for sorting out a story problem or solution. It's the sort of thing amateur writers do when not pre-planning a story and writing themselves into a corner without any viable, sensible or plausible solution.

Humans: Keep Out!
01/01/2006. Many science fiction stories are based on humans exploring the galaxy at some point, says Uncle Geoff. Very few focus on mankind being confined to our Solar System let alone being confined there by aliens for one reason or another. Based on our current lack of manned space exploration, he doubts if we will be going very far any time soon.