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The Shangri-La Affair by Lavie Tidhar

2009-11-08T10:48:03Z

This weeks Torque Control Short Story Club story is The Shangri-La Affair by Lavie Tidhar, published in Strange Horizons.

The story is set in near future Asia; Thailand and Laos. There’s war and confusion. The story follows what appears to be a war-tourist, flying into the region to gawp at the mess, although it’s revealed that actually the protagonist is after much more.

I loved the style of the writing, it had a great sense of place, with some really groovy description: funky, cool and foreign. It has plenty of background tech scenery, the sort of layers that give the future a good sense of believability, combined with some striking descriptive images.

The POV is a bit slippery in places, along with the nameless protagonist, and I liked both, producing a tale-of-the-past feel combined with a kind of Ludlum-esque Bourne style espionage.

It doesn’t skimp on ideas either, leaving a rather large question for discussion at the end: is peace enforced by biological means something we should use? Peace or slavery?

I thoroughly enjoyed the story. Probably my favourite of the entire story club so far. Highly recommended.

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November's Ansible Is Online

2009-11-06T07:15:00Z

Ansible 268, November 2009 This post is from Big Dumb Object

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International Science Fiction Reshelving Day Is Dead

2009-11-05T08:32:55Z

The mischief that was International Science Fiction Reshelving Day has been killed off before it’s first debut.

Okay. ISFRD is a bad idea. Hell, it’s a terrible idea. It’s not my first, and I’m sure it won’t be my last. But this one I can do something about.

ISFRD is cancelled.

Which got me wondering if maybe some people heard about it, then went into hiding, off the grid in preparation, and come the day there will be an outbreak of SF books being moved, all over the world AND NO ONE WILL BE ABLE TO STOP IT.

There’s a TV series in that.

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V, Episode 1

2009-11-04T23:03:31Z

The new, re-imagined version of V was shown last night in the US. In the UK it will be shown in the new year, however I saw a preview of the first episode yesterday, courtesy of the UK Sci-Fi Channel.

If you’re unaware of the original V then go and read about it. What’s important is that it was a Science Fiction series which achieved mainstream success, and delivered some classic SF moments.

As a re-imagined show it has work to do to win me over. I can’t help feeling: why? Yes BSG was a success (for a while) and offered something new, but that’s the exception so far. I’d rather new shows be developed, with new ideas, or at least new fusions of old ideas.

Most fans will know the plot of V, and hence the original surprise is lost. So it has to win us over in different ways. The initial appearance of the spaceships is handled in a pacey set of cuts that introduces the main characters. As a pleasant surprise this includes Elizabeth Mitchell (aka Juliet from Lost) and Alan Tudyk (aka Wash from Firefly and Alpha from Dollhouse), both of whom I like and play FBI agents. On the downside it includes the annoying teenage son of the FBI agent, who does things like argue with his mom and lust after aliens.

I’m not convinced by the actual initial reaction of the population to the arrival of the spaceships: they stand in the Manhattan streets, point upwards and scream. There’s one mention by a teenager that it’s like Independence Day, but it’s there as a fanboy joke, and the rest of the population are assumed to be in a vacuum, cut off from SF films and literature. And perhaps cut-off from real world events. You’d think that the Manhattan population would run first. The doubt over the aliens is at least handled, with some exploration of how religion would cope, but it was a bit shallow, crammed into a single episode.

The special effects of the spaceships are mediocre. The main spaceships don’t create the looming sense of menace that the ship in District 9 did, and they hover over stereotypical landmarks such as The Houses Of Parliament, The Eiffel Tower and The Pyramids. The shuttle craft special effects didn’t look that great either.

However after the initial reaction to the Visitors the episode starts to show some promise. There’s a bit of intrigue, a splash of action and a disappointment, all of which could develop into something promising in later episodes.

In summary: shows some promise but must tread carefully and aim higher.

I’m now going to talk in more detail about the episode and there will be…

SPOILERS….

So, as most people know from the original series, the Visitors are not friendly. This gives rise to the strand of the plot which shows the most promise: the resistance. The visitors are embedded throughout the world, sleeper cells, so how are the resistance going to fight them? A priest and a FBI agent, and no one can be trusted.

Also promising was the outburst of violence. People died. Innocent people. No sentimentality. And worse Alan Tudyk dies. Again! It’s no surprise if you’re following his career, he always seems to die. But it was a shame. I was looking forward to a Wash and Juliet FBI against the aliens show.

The teenage son obsessed with sexy alien joining Hitler youth plot was heavy handed and cringey. The devoted V fans versus the resistance could be an interesting plot, but it needs to be handled a bit more subtly.

There’s definitely enough raw plot and ideas to do something interesting, it just needs to be executed well.

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Paradox, 5 Reasons It Will Be Better Than FlashForward

2009-11-03T07:48:00Z

Paradox is a new show to be shown soon on the BBC (no confirmed date yet). Here's the blurb:

If you could see the future, would you change it? That's the dilemma facing Detective Inspector Rebecca Flint (Tamzin Outhwaite) and astrophysicist Dr Christian King (Emun Elliott) in Paradox. They find themselves thrown together when a series of rogue images are transmitted into Dr King's laboratory from space.

The fragmented images appear to be of a major incident, but shockingly they suggest it has yet to happen; it's in the future. Christian, Rebecca and her team, DS Ben Holt (Mark Bonnar) and DC Callum Gada (Chiké Okonkwo), have just 18 hours to work out the clues and prevent a tragedy.

Sounds like FlashForward right?

Except that there are a few reasons why it's likely to be better than FlashForward:

No one is doing a terrible fake American accent.
There is no Jack Davenport character, played by Jack Davenport.
It's a five episode series. Not a (hopefully) five year series. Which means that the story will actually be concluded.
There's a hard and fast time limit. Eighteen hours, five episodes means all thriller, no filler.
They're already talking about "the moral and emotional implications of changing the future".

Check out the trailer embedded below:

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Love, Trailer. Cool Looking SF Film

2009-11-02T18:25:00Z

Love looks like an interesting SF film. Astronaut trapped aboard the ISS, going crazy.

Here’s the trailers on the Apple site. Embedded below is a YouTube version.

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Awesome xkcd Character Interaction Charts

2009-11-02T13:34:00Z

I presume you all read xkcd? In which case you will have seen the amazingly awesome Movie Narrative Charts. Which is so awesome I had to blog it. The Primer chart especially made me laugh.

If you don’t read xkcd….what are you doing?

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Dollhouse Season One Now Showing On ITV4

2009-11-02T07:18:00Z

ITV4 are now showing Dollhouse season one, starting last Monday and continuing every Monday at 9pm. ITV4 is a free digital TV station, so this is the first time Dollhouse has been shown in the UK on free TV.

Straight after Dollhouse, ITV4 are showing Sanctuary, which is now three episodes in.

Dollhouse doesn’t appear to be available on the ITV Player though.

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Defying Gravity, First Impressions

2009-11-02T07:10:00Z

Defying Gravity is now being shown on BBC2, and after three episodes, I like it.

The story is about a round the solar-system trip, following the crew of eight and their back-story. Although there’s clearly more to it than that, something else is going on, something probably alien that hasn’t been shown yet.

The back-story flashbacks blend seamlessly into the present time plot. Sometimes with flashbacks and back story there’s a jarring effect, but Lost set the standard higher, and Defying Gravity follows in that vein. Each episode so far has felt like one story, not a story with infodumps.

There’s a lot of focus on the characters and their relationships, both in the present and throughout their training. It’s all handled well, and the acting is pretty good. I like the interplay between the characters.

The visuals for the spacecraft Antares are quite nice too, they look like CGI but manage to capture the sense of scale of the ship, something which I feel is lacking from SGU.

The main annoyance is the voiceover, which feels lazy and unnecessary. Pandering to the TV stations?

Overall I like it. I know the show has been cancelled but I’m going to watch all of it and hopefully continue to enjoy the psychological investigation of the characters.

(On a side note, it really annoys me how US shows get cancelled before a series is finished. I much prefer the UK way of doing things where we get shorter series (== seasons), some times as few as six episodes, but at least we get a complete arc. Production is complete before the episodes are shown, and then if it’s successful another series gets commissioned. Rather than the guillotine of cancellation hanging over the show.)

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Thieves Of Silence - Holly Phillips

2009-10-31T15:26:35Z

This weeks Torque Control Short Story Club story is Thieves Of Silence by Holly Phillips, published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Beneath Ceaseless Skies is an online magazine dedicated to publishing the best in literary adventure fantasy, so not at all the sort of story I would usually read.

The story is about a thief who stumbles upon some witches. The writing is nice with some evocative description, but I just don't get on with this style of Fantasy story. It does nothing for me. I'm reminded of one-off bespoke RPGs that I played many (many) years ago, with thieves and masters and servants. Nothing ever seems to surprise me in this style of story, nothing ever keeps me hooked. I miss the ideas and invention and provocation that a great SF story can deliver.

Yes, I know someone out there will be saying that Fantasy can deliver that, in which case please point me at a story to do that and I'll be happy to change my mind.

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The Doctor Appears In The Sarah Jane Adventures Tonight

2009-10-29T08:55:31Z

In case you were getting Doctor withdrawal symptoms he’s popping up in The Sarah Jane Adventures tonight, just to keep us going until Christmas. BBC1, 4:35pm, today.

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Six World Tales

2009-10-29T08:08:00Z

Stiles White has a blog of illustrated microfiction called Six-Word Tales. And yes the stories are six words long. There's some great art and micro-stories there. Worth checking out.

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Being Human Cast Give Halloween Dressing Tips

2009-10-28T19:32:22Z

The second series of the rather good Being Human starts next year. In the meantime the cast is here to give you some tips for dressing up at Halloween.

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International Science Fiction Reshelving Day

2009-10-28T19:26:43Z

Here’s a bit of mischief that made me chuckle: International Science Fiction Reshelving Day.

Join us this November in a new and unique celebration of science fiction and fantasy literature. Many books from our fine genre are regularly placed in the wrong section of bookstores. This not only hides the books from us, but it prevents readers of those books from discovering the rich tradition to which they belong.

On November 18th that changes. We will go to bookstores around the world and move science fiction and fantasy books from wherever they might be to their proper place in the “Science Fiction” section. We hope that this quiet act of protest will raise awareness of this problem and inspire new readers to explore our thought-provoking genre.

I suppose it will give bookshop workers something to do! [ducks]

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Misfits, Teenage Superheroes Coming To E4

2009-10-28T19:19:31Z

The Guardian has news of a new show called Misfits coming to E4. The drama follows a group of five teenagers who develop superhero powers after being caught in a storm.

Interestingly the cast members will be tweeting live in character on Twitter when it is aired next month:

Tweets for episode one have been written in advance by a team headed by the drama's lead writer, Howard Overman, and will be posted throughout the hour-long airing of the programme, which starts on 12 November on E4.

The Misfits writing team will meet throughout the six-episode run of the series to construct more tweets for Simon and Kelly's characters.

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