News

Fantasy and science fiction author Stephen Hunt (and Guest Literary Editor of SCI FI UK) brings his weekly round-up of all that is new from the genre world of sci-fi.

Planet 51
There's no space like home. Trailer for an animated scifi movie that reads like ET reversed - human astronaut lands on alien planet and has to be hidden by alien kid and helped back to his in-orbit return module. ET has a whole 1950s retro look going on, so lots of opportunities to lampoon all the science fiction movies of the period.

A Quantum Quest to Comic-Con
A Quantum Quest panel, featuring film composer Shawn Clement and co-director and writer/producer Dr. Harry Kloor, will speak at Comic-Con on Thursday, July 23rd 2009 from 12pm-1pm in Ballroom twenty at the San Diego Convention Center. Shawn Clement scored the animated film Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey, which takes viewers on a solar safari through the universe.

Realms of Fantasy rescued from oblivion
Sci-fi publisher Tir Na Nog Press have purchased the recetly defunct Realms of Fantasy magazine from Sovereign Media.

The City & The City (in the city)
China Miéville talks about his new weird detective novel The City & The City - UK tour details are here.

From SCI FI to SyFy
SCI FI officially becomes Syfy on-air and online via Syfy.com in the USA on Tuesday July 7th 2009.

Tor Books goes for an EVE Online novelisation
Tor Books are set to publish a new space opera set in the universe of EVE Online, a science fiction MMOG.

Daybreakers
Trailer for an interesting concept for a horror movie - in Daybreakers, most of humanity have become immortal vampires, and it's the few human outcasts that are hunted down and farmed for blood. Trouble is, there's too many vamps and not enough human sheep to feed them. What's to do?

Forget life on Mars: how about life on Saturn's moon Enceladus?
For the first time, scientists working on NASA's Cassini mission have detected sodium salts in ice grains of Saturn's outermost ring. Detecting salty ice indicates that Saturn's moon Enceladus, which primarily replenishes the ring with material from discharging jets, could harbor a reservoir of liquid water -- perhaps an ocean -- beneath its surface.

The Last Airbender bends some airtime
M. Night Shyamalan's live action fantasy-scifi movie The Last Airbender gets its first trailer. This is the one that was based on the cartoon Avatar, which was unusually imaginative for a toon.

Fantasy gets Polish
It's not only Polish builders that are doing well in the UK - now, so are Polish writers! The first annual David Gemmell Legend Award for best fantasy novel has been won by Andrzej Sapkowski for his novel Blood of Elves (published in the UK by Gollancz). The Award was accepted on Sapkowski's behalf by his UK editor, Jo Fletcher. Well done, Andrzej.

G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra
An online trailer for the film G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra. Much maligned in advance by the netarati, this film might just be a suprise hit with the kids. Well, it has some cool-looking power armour suits anyway.