Okay, peeps and fellow geeks, listen up, because we have a remarkable “money can’t buy it” type of prize up for grabs thanks to our friends arranging the screenings of Sir Ridley Scott’s much-anticipated ‘Alien sort-of prequel’ (Sir Ridley notes it started that way but ‘evolved into another universe’)  Prometheus, starring Girl With a Dragon Tattoo’s superb Noomi Rapace, Idris Elba (anything with Idris is good in our books!), Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce and Michael Fassbender.The film marks the triumphant return to the science fiction genre of one of our best directors who made such a huge impact on the film incarnation of SF with his early masterpieces Blade Runner and Alien, yet hasn’t returned to the genre for decades:

“Over the past few decades, we’ve been ‘action filmed-out’ and ‘monster filmed-out’ and almost ‘science fiction filmed-out,. So the baseline question is: how original are you going to be? The reason I haven’t made another sci-fi film in so many years, apart from the fact I’ve been busy making other films and exploring different genres, is because frankly I haven’t come across anything worthwhile for me to do with enough truth, originality and strength.  Prometheus has all three,” Sir Ridley Scott on why he was away from the genre he has a fondness for and what drew him back to it after so long. He went on to explain the iconic ‘Space Jockey’ – the gigantic alien skeleton in the pilot’s seat of the derelict in Alien – has remained in his mind since he made that film: “Something that had stayed with me ever since Alien, was the mystery behind it  Who was he?  Where was he from?   What was his mission? What kind of technology would his kind possess?  I thought those questions could provide a springboard for even larger ideas… Out of the creative process in developing the picture energed a new, grand mythology, in which this original story takes place.  The keen fan will recognize strands of Alien’s DNA, so to speak, but the ideas tackled in this film are unique, far-reaching and provocative.  Prometheus is the singular genre tale I’d been searching for.”

Prometheus opens in the UK on the 1st of June, but thanks to our film chums we have an exceptional prize for one lucky fan – two tickets to the premiere of Prometheus at London’s Leicester Square on Thursday May 31st. The package includes return rail travel to London from anywhere in the country and a night’s bed and breakfast in a top London hotel. Of course the winner has to be able to travel to London on the 31st of May and return on June 1st; the film has not had its final rating yet so the winner must be over 15 and at least one of the two people using the ticket must be over 18. In order to be in with a chance to bag this fabulous prize answer this simple question: who is the director of Prometheus? Email your answers to joe(dot)gordon(at)forbiddenplanet(dot)co(dot)uk, please mark emails Prometheus Competition and include your full contact details including a phone number, please, as arrangements for travel will have to be made very quickly for the lucky winners! Closing date for entries is Sunday 27th of May – best of luck! And if you do win, make sure you take a photo at the premiere and send it to us to post up!

I’m eagerly looking forward to the film myself and quite jealous of whoever gets to the premiere! You can learn more about the film on the official website here and naturally there are Facebook, YouTube and Twitter streams to follow for more information too.

“It wasn’t an obvious Arthur C Clarke winner – it’s not from a science fiction publisher but from a small Scottish press. But I don’t think anyone was surprised it was nominated. It really is a very good book and it has found a real audience in the science fiction readership. It offers a route into dealing with quite serious issues, about science, about maternity and about making choices,” Clarke Award organiser Tom Hunter, quoted in the Guardian article on the award.

The book had been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, one of the major literary awards in UK publishing, but failed to make the shortlist – hardly surprising since the Booker, while technically open to all forms of fiction, regularly remains resolutely determined to ignore anything which may have the slightest tang of genre (I’ve read very good Booker winners, I’ve also read very good SF or Crime novels that I thought better that never made the list – no wonder we need our own genre friendly awards…). So never mind the usual literary snobbery against genre from the Booker, the Clarke judges, who had to endure a very rude public tirade from certain quarters this year, have picked out some unusual and deserving work to be highlighted and celebrated. Well done to Jane and to Sandstone for the win. And, as ever, for any of you looking for more good reading tips I’d point you to any and all of the shortlisted books on the Clarke award as good starting points.

And I note that the nice folks at the NLS also have some more video up to go along with the event, including this piece talking to Edinburgh-based Charlie Stross:

The very fine Gary Gibson:

And one from Ken MacLeod:

And on a related not I’d be remiss if I didn’t direct you to Ken’s latest book Intrusion, just released recently by the good folks at Orbit, a fascinating and compelling near-future tale of life in Britain, taking in the nanny state, personal freedom and responsibility and the state’s and society’s influence – and sometimes direct intrusion – into the life and decisions of the individual. I highly recommend it – actually I also recommend it as a science fiction novel you can easily share with chums who normally say they don’t like the genre much, they will find it quite accessible and as it extrapolates from a number of current concerns – how far can police go to ‘protect’ us from terror threats, how we deal with climate change, medical advances and individual rights – I think most readers would find it fascinating. I thoroughly expect Intrusion to be on next year’s Clarke and BSFA shortlists and it certainly will be on my Best Of come the end of the year.

Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse

Dark Horse Comics

Last year the Dark Horse Presents anthology comic series carried a pretty interesting strip from Paul Hogan and Steve Parkhouse, Resident Alien. Harry Vanderspiegle is the titular resident alien – not one of those who sneaked over the Tex-Mex border that get right wing US politicians so excitable but an actual alien, an extra terrestrial being. He even looks a bit like the classic ‘gray’ alien, although taller. Well, to the reader, at any rate.

You see to the people of his small, isolated rural town Harry is just another person, thanks to some mental tricks he can exercise so the human population see him as one of them. And so there he is, settled down in his out of the way backwater, happily spending time on the lake fishing or in his cabin, keeping a low profile and little contact with others so as not to push his luck. Until the law comes knocking on his door.

It’s not a raid of police and federal investigators looking for ET though, it’s the local sheriff and he’s after Harry’s help. You see the mailman told him Harry is a doctor and in their normally peaceful wee township they’ve had a, for them, unusual crime – a murder. And since the town is too small for a detective force or forensics team and the state ones being loaned to them won’t arrive for some time they think to ask the old keep-to-himself doctor in the fishing cabin… Harry has deliberately stayed isolated in case he meets one of the very few humans his psychic disguise doesn’t work on, but he reckons in a small town it is unlikely he will meet such a rare person who can resist his trick,  and besides he can’t really turn down the sheriff’s request for help without looking suspicious…

So Harry goes off to inspect the body, which turns out to be that of the town’s GP. And we discover that Harry has a bit of a fascination for murder mysteries and crime stories – he has an uncanny ability to discern people’s thoughts and motivations from the tiniest movements and gestures and expressions they make and, despite his caution at becoming involved with more of the natives, he finds himself drawn into helping, his curiosity climbing. And then the mayor drops another help request on him he can’t avoid – since the town’s doctor is the murder victim can Harry take over his practise? Just for a week till the replacement arrives… Unwilling and forseeing he may well be sucked into much more involvement with the people of the town than he wants, Harry knows that again he can’t refuse…

And that’s the set-up for the start of the upcoming three-part mini-series – this zero issue collects the original strip that was serialised in DHP last year in one, so it is a perfect introduction and set up for the series (I know Peter has plans for a second series should this one prove successful with readers, and I hope it does, because I loved it). It’s a great scenario, gleefully mixing science fiction aliens-among-us with the murder-mystery genre, while the odd characters and small town setting also evoke slight echoes of Lynch’s Twin Peaks and perhaps a smidgen of Doc Hollywood with the out of towner medic stuck in small town America and coming to like it (and Harry’s old fishing hat also reminds me slightly of MASH’s Dr Henry Blake). Harry himself is extremely likeable -we don’t know why he is there yet, shipwrecked alien or deliberate visitor, or if any in authority suspect he is there yet, and that adds to it – but his self-imposed, cautious isolation has left him realising when he interacts with the townsfolk that he misses company. Maybe not his own species, but they are people, and he finds himself being drawn to them, to their lives and problems and enjoying using his accurate observational skills to discern their hidden motivations.

It’s a real pleasure to delve into and I can’t wait for the start of the mini-series proper, to see Harry become more and more involved in his small town mystery – and to see if his sudden dropping of his former caution about becoming involved with humans leads him to better things or to the problems he adopted his isolated persona to avoid in the first place. And to help get you in the mood why not check out this interview that man Pádraig Ó Méalóid had with Peter about the series late last year on the blog?

An unexpected and rather lovely package arrived for me the other day from the Library of America, a pair of quite beautiful small hardback editions of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan of the Apes and A Princess of Mars. On May 14th, 1912, Burroughs recorded that he had finished writing Tarzan of the Apes; a century on and his immortal hero is being celebrated by the Library of America; in the same year one of his other great heroes, John Carter, would appear in print for the first time, serialised in several parts in the All-Story magazine across the summer of 1912. Both have inspired readers for a century – I well remember finding cheap paperback collections of both Tarzan and John Carter tales as a boy, devouring them alongside Haggard’s Allan Quatermain stories (how little did I know he would re-appear in a fascinating new form from Messrs Moore and O’Neill decades later). Even as a twelve year old boy I knew they were old-fashioned, from a different era to the other books I read, but so too were my HG Wells and my Jules Verne, my Robert Louis Stevenson and my Arthur Conan Doyle books and it didn’t matter; if anything that just made them more special, not just fantasies of other world and cultures but written from the perspective of a culture and world that itself had long since vanished, as much an insight into those eras that birthed them as they were wonderful tales of adventure.

The editions are both lovely things – yes, I know that it is the actual story that is of paramount importance, but those of us who love our books, let’s be honest, also love finely made editions because, unlike an e-book, the physical book isn’t just a method of storing and displaying data, it can be a treasured object in its own right (although LOA does also offer various digital versions if that’s the way your prefer reading). There’s an undeniable physical pleasure in holding a nicely made volume, admiring the binding, the feel of the dustjacket, running your fingers down the spine, the feel of good quality paper as you turn the pages, even the scent of a good book is a pleasurable act to some of us. And these are such volumes, very handsome small hardbacks, which for their inspiration are designed around the original hardback editions of a century or so ago, boasting extensive introductions, essays on the original editions, notes on the author and characters; in the case of A Princess of Mars the volume also boasts some of the glorious illustrated pages too. Both are very much of their time, feature elements that stretch credulity (even when suspending belief for a fantasy tale Burroughs often stretches it way beyond any sensible level), other elements are awkward for modern readers (gender roles, attitudes to race), but as the recent controversy over Tintin in the Congo shows it simply doesn’t work to apply modern cultural standards to historical works; as I said before, these sorts of work are as much a glimpse into the era that spawned them, and indeed into the writer’s mind.

But that aside they remain what they always were, what has made them endure for a century, being adapted endlessly in sequels then into new media like film, television, comics, computer games and more – they are simply fabulously enjoyable adventure tales. And how nice to have them in such lovely editions; I’ve had a desire to go back to the John Carter books since watching the recent film (which really didn’t deserve the scorn some film industry figures heaped on it, I thought it a most enjoyable action-fantasy that did exactly what it said on the tin, giving me a decent film version of Burroughs’ planet-travelling hero). It is also worth noting that the The Library of America is a not for profit publisher, dedicated to preserving the most significant, influential and important  writing in fine, collectable editions, all with notes and introductions (currently they have over 225 different volumes); any profits made go back into creating the next volumes on all sorts of writers and subjects. I find that rather appealing and imagine many fellow readers will also approve of such an approach to preserving and publishing important books; you can order them and find out more about them on their site here.

BBC Doctor Who Comic-Con panel from Stacy Tiderington on Vimeo.

When I was picking out some of my fave reading from 2011 for my annual Best of the Year selection I also included a few books and comics to watch for in 2012. One of those was a quite splendid science fiction novel from Adam Christopher, Empire State, which came out early this year – I was lucky enough to get an early preview copy from Angry Robot and was reading it just as I was writing up my Best of piece, a little before it was due to hit the shelves. Split between two versions of a 30s/40s era New York Adam draws on the pulp comics and also Republic-style film serials of that era as well as some great vintage-style science fiction and a Chandler-esque gumshoe noir added in for good measure. Intriguing and an utter joy to read I flagged it up as one of the books you should be picking up this year (don’t just take my word for it, in his guest Best of the Year author Paul Cornell also heaped praise on Empire State).

The book is not the be-all and end-all of the story, however, there is a world-builder project going on with various different media online being used to expand the universe of the story and involve readers further (great idea), a new part of which is a free online comic inspired by the book, the Silver Specter in The Blood Orchid Killer by Cheyenne (Girl Genius) Wright, online now for your reading pleasure. And if you still haven’t picked up the novel, you really should… (thanks to Darren for the heads-up)

Best Novel

Among Others by Jo Walton (Tor)
A Dance With Dragons by George R. R. Martin (Bantam Spectra)
Deadline by Mira Grant (Orbit)
Embassytown by China Miéville (Macmillan / Del Rey)

Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey (Orbit)

Best Novella

Countdown by Mira Grant (Orbit)
“The Ice Owl” by Carolyn Ives Gilman (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction November/December 2011)
“Kiss Me Twice” by Mary Robinette Kowal (Asimov’s June 2011)
“The Man Who Bridged the Mist” by Kij Johnson (Asimov’s September/October 2011)
“The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary” by Ken Liu (Panverse 3)
Silently and Very Fast by Catherynne M. Valente (WSFA)

The Hugos continue to include a section celebrating comics works with SF&F elements and, I am rather relieved to see this year it features something other than Girl Genius! And before fans of that popular series take offence, I don’t mean any slight against that comic at all, but for the last few awards it seems to be the only comic those eligible to vote have any knowledge of and some were starting to question if it was really worth having a graphic award segment if those who could vote clearly weren’t reading widely enough in comics to make much of an informed decision (that’s not Girl Genius’s fault of course, but it was becoming depressing given how many other good relevant works there were to consider). This year, however, there are several comics works in the running, including three by major comics talents who also have a track record in genre prose fiction as well: Mike Carey, Bill Willingham and Joe Hill, so it looks as if it is slowly becoming more accepted and considered by Hugo voters:

Best Graphic Story

Digger by Ursula Vernon (Sofawolf Press)
Fables Volume 15: Rose Red by Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham (Vertigo)
Locke & Key Volume 4, Keys to the Kingdom written by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez (IDW)
Schlock Mercenary: Force Multiplication written and illustrated by Howard Tayler, colors by Travis Walton (The Tayler Corporation)
The Unwritten (Volume 4): Leviathan created by Mike Carey and Peter Gross. Written by Mike Carey, illustrated by Peter Gross (Vertigo)

In the Best Dramatic Presentation (Long form) we have the amusing situation of one of the nominees, Marty Scorcese’s wonderful Hugo, sharing the name of the award it is nominated for. I am a little surprised to see A Game of Thrones in the long form category though – usually TV goes into the short form category (in which this year Doctor Who has not one but three nominations, which is great but I hope it doesn’t split the vote) but in this case they seem to be nominating the entire season rather than a specific episode as is more common with television SF&F. To be honest though with a show like Game of Thrones that probably makes a lot more sense, I think, so fair enough.

Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form)

Captain America: The First Avenger, screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephan McFeely, directed by Joe Johnston (Marvel)
Game of Thrones (Season 1), created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss; written by David Benioff, D. B. Weiss, Bryan Cogman, Jane Espenson, and George R. R. Martin; directed by Brian Kirk, Daniel Minahan, Tim van Patten, and Alan Taylor (HBO)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, screenplay by Steve Kloves; directed by David Yates (Warner Bros.)
Hugo, screenplay by John Logan; directed by Martin Scorsese (Paramount)

Source Code, screenplay by Ben Ripley; directed by Duncan Jones (Vendome Pictures)

Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form)

“The Doctor’s Wife” (Doctor Who), written by Neil Gaiman; directed by Richard Clark (BBC Wales)

“The Drink Tank‘s Hugo Acceptance Speech,” Christopher J Garcia and James Bacon (Renovation)
“The Girl Who Waited” (Doctor Who), written by Tom MacRae; directed by Nick Hurran (BBC Wales)
“A Good Man Goes to War” (Doctor Who), written by Steven Moffat; directed by Peter Hoar (BBC Wales)
“Remedial Chaos Theory” (Community), written by Dan Harmon and Chris McKenna; directed by Jeff Melman (NBC)

And on a personal note all of the FP blog crew run up the geek flag and salute in the direction of a nominee who we’ve been very fortunate to have gracing these pages with some fine reviews and reports: yes, James Bacon, already a Hugo winner, is nominated again. In fact James is nominated four times this year! He’s in the short form Best Dramatic Presentation (it’s the top hat, award voters love a fine chap in a top hat), two in Best Fanzine (for Drink Tank and Journey Planet with Christopher J Garcia) and one in Best Fan Writer. Huge congrats to James for bagging himself such an impressive number of nominations. SF Awards Watch has the full list details, the winners will be announced at Worldcon this summer, best of luck to all nominees.

And this weekend at the annual Eastercon the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) awards were announced, with Christopher Priest winning the Best Novel gong for The Islanders, the excellent Paul Cornell won the Best Short Fiction for The Copenhagen Interpretation (published in Asimov’s – you can read it as a PDF here), Best Art went to Dominic Harman for the cover of Ian Whates’ The Noise Revealed (published Solaris), while the Best Non Fiction award, rather correctly I think, honoured the enormous years-in-the-making new third version of the SF Encyclopedia by John Clute, Dave Langford, Peter Nicholls, Graham Sleight et al on the Gollancz website. Congratulations to all the winners. (via the Ot-2 blog)