I wasn’t that interested in the movie In Time when I saw the commercials and previews. Strangely enough, it took a lawsuit by Harlan Ellison to get me interested. Ellison claimed that it was based off his classic story Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman. But the lawsuit was dropped after Ellison saw the movie. After watching the movie over the weekend, my guess is that he didn’t want his name on this soulless disappointing movie regardless if it was ripping him off. So, let’s see what went wrong with the movie.
Bone: Quest for the Spark Book 1 by Tom Sniegoski
Jeff Smith’s Bone is one of my favorite comic series. It’s a fantasy story that matches wonderful art and an original concept into an amazing story that is accessible to all ages. And since Smith has moved onto other stories, I was amazed to see that he has allowed others to play in his playground. Tom Sniegoski, who worked with Jeff Smith on BONE: Tall Tales, has started a prose series that covers events after the end of the original Bone series. The Quest for the Spark is aimed for a younger audience and is not anywhere close to the quality of the original series. But, it’s a fun little book that starts off what I assume is a trilogy that brings us back to the valley with a new cast of characters. So, let’s check out what it’s about.
Aloha From Hell by Richard Kadrey
Everyone’s favorite chain-smoking abomination is back and this time Sandman Slim might be in over his head. Richard Kadrey’s latest installment in the Sandman Slim saga, Aloha From Hell, is the best one yet. Kadrey picks up a lot of the open plot points (including having to finally deal with Mason) and ends it in a logical (if not completely satisfactory) manner. So, let’s see what’ going on.
Green Lantern movie review
I’m not saying Green Lantern was a horrible movie, but I’m not saying that you should actually watch it either. The movie takes the basic ideas of Green Lantern (Hal Jordan, ring, green and lantern) and mixes them together in a weird way that doesn’t really make a lot of sense. The movie, which should be ripe for special effects with the ring creating all kinds of crazy stuff, gets bogged down in the need to setup the special effects and the story and characters get lost in the shuffle. So, what went wrong?
Canceled Too Soon: Drive
Every season there are some good show that, for whatever reason, just never find an audience and are canceled fairly early on. I’ve had that happen to a number of shows, but one of the prematurely canceled shows that caught my attention before it’s early demise was the Tim Minear show Drive. Many of you know who Tim Minear is, he was the Executive Producer for Angel, Firefly, Wonderfalls, Terriers, Dollhouse and The Chicago Code, among others. So you can see that he has a reputation for working on quirky, high quality TV. But, except for Angel, all of his shows are short-lived.So, what exactly was Drive?
Revenger by Rory Clements
Rory Clements had a wonderful debut novel with Martyr(my review) and introduced us to William Shakespeare’s older (and fictional) brother John who was in the spy trade. Clements new novel, Revenger, comes back 5 years later with several things changed, but soon we’re back in the 16th century intrigue. This book has a little more of William and a little less of the Catholic/Protestant power struggle that was going on at the time. So, let’s see what’s intriguing in Queen Elizabeth’s court.
Is the Science Channel Better Than SyFy?
The Science Channel recently concluded the re-running of Stephen Hawking’s Sci Fi Masters and this week it will finish the its home grown Prophets of Science Fiction. This has made me realize that over the last year or so, I’ve watched Science Channel a lot more than I’ve watched Syfy. And this makes me curious as to why? Is Science Channel a better TV network for science fiction than SyFy right now?
Interesting Alternate Timeline Novel Idea
IO9 has an excerpt from David Kowalski’s The Company of the Dead and it sounds like an interesting alternate history novel. From the blurb:
The journey begins with a mysterious man aboard the Titanic on its doomed voyage. His mission? To save the ship. The result of his efforts is a world where the United States never entered World War I, thus launching the secret history of the 20th Century. Fast-forward to April 2012 and Joseph Kennedy, relation of John F. Kennedy, lives in an America occupied on the East Coast by Greater Germany and on the West Coast by Imperial Japan. He is one of six people who can restore history to its rightful order – even though it may mean his own death.
The book comes out next week (March 13, 2012 for those of you reading this in the future), but the IO9 article has an excerpt for you to read now.
The Fat Years by Chan Koonchung
A science fiction book set in China, written in China and banned in China was too big of an invitation, so I decided that I needed to read Chan Koonchung’s The Fat Years. It has a fairly basic premise and a love story that dovetail together. Until the truly atrocious ending, I considered it a lighter version of 1Q84. But, unfortunately the ending is so bad that it just destroy’s the book. So, let’s see what went wrong.
Why I Stopped Watching Once Upon A Time
Back when it started, I reviewed ABC’s Once Upon a Time (review). I loved the mythology and the way the show just jumped into it. I enjoyed the interplay with Henry and his two moms: biological (Emma) and adoptive (Mayor Regina). And the intercutting of the fantasy/fairytale world and reality was interesting. But, recently I’ve given up on the show. Read on to find out why.