Posted by admin on Aug 27, 2010 Posted in Science Fact
Is the World about to End?
There has been a story sweeping across America that claims that the recent BP Gulf disaster could have triggered a mass extinction event on a scale the world hasn’t seen in 251 million years.
Around that time there was a mass exctinction event, killing of 96% of all the life on the Earth, known as the Permian extinction event it is generally considered to be the greatest mass extinction in the history of the world, there are a few theories about the cause (no one’s actually old enough to know for sure) and one of these is that there was a massive release of methane and other toxic gases released into the atmosphere from a crack in the sea floor.
Posted by admin on Aug 15, 2010 Posted in Science Fact
We would like all our valuable readers to know that Science Fiction and Fantasy has now merged with the established and most excellent website sfbook. Don’t worry though, the website is still owned and run by the same person but we now have a nice short web address and will eventually merge the excellent content created by the previous owner of sfbook.
Science Fiction and Fantasy’s new domain name is http://sfbook.com.
You can still use the old name www.sciencefictionandfantasy.co.uk and this will automatically take you to the new address.
We hope that this merger will result in even more great reviews and news stories as content from sfbook gets added on a regular basis.
Posted by admin on Aug 12, 2010 Posted in Books
Today is the 71st Anniversary of that magical tale The Wizard of Oz, and scott stanford has recently released his version of this calassic tale.
The Darker Side of Oz is a deeper, more character driven and very dark interpretation of Baum’s work and describes a more “realistic” vision through an epic journey.
Available now through all major booksellers, including Amazon, Waterstones, and Fastprint, with limited
signed editions and prints available through the novel’s official website: www.darkersideofoz.com
Posted by admin on Aug 10, 2010 Posted in Science Fiction
The Alternate Reality news service can now be heard in a two part Radio pilot, created by the very talented Canadian Journalist Ira Nayman and thanks to the magic of You-Tube you can listen to these highly amusing radio broadcasts right here:
Posted by admin on Aug 2, 2010 Posted in Books
Those generous people over at channel 4 have created a free science fiction adventure game you can play online. Set in the year 2027, Britain is controlled by a Nanny State and curfews are in force throughout the country and civil liberties are ignored.
There are a number of different characters to play through and each one have their own story to tell. Playing like an intereact episode of a TV show, the production is excellent and it’s really worth a look if you have a spare 5 minutes 2 hours.
You can play the game free online here.
Posted by Scifi Fan on Jul 29, 2010 Posted in Books
After years of pretty much ignoring the United Kingdom e-book market and then the half-hearted attempt with “allowing” UK shoppers to buy a Kindle in the UK, Amazon is now finally taking things seriously with 2 revamped versions of the Kindle for the UK market.
Offering a complete make-over, 21% smaller and 15% lighter, the new UK Kindle offers double the storage and 20% faster page turns and 50% better screen contrast with more atractive price points of £149 for the 3G version and £109 for the wifi only version. For the 3G versions, “Free” wireless 3G will be supplied by Vodafone.
I Can’t help but wondering if a little “tablet style” device by the name of “Ipad” has had anything to do with this sudden change, e-book sales have increased dramatically since the launch of the “Ipad” and yet Amazon have been very tight lipped about the sales so far of the Kindle.
Pre-orders are now available online, with the actual release dated slated for the 27th August.
Guess what just went on my Christmas list…
Posted by Scifi Fan on Jul 26, 2010 Posted in Books
The inevitable march of the e-book continues apace with the news this week that in the US on Amazon.com, sales for e-books have outpaced those of hardback novels and the growth of e-book sales is increasing.
In a statement Amazon US said:
“over the past three months, for every 100 hardcover books Amazon.com has sold, it has sold 143 Kindle books.”
Posted by Scifi Fan on Jul 24, 2010 Posted in Books, Science Fiction
South Africa’s greatest export (in our opinion) Lauren Beukes, hit the literary scene last year with the an ultra-smart urban science fiction novel Moxyland which showed a grim vision of a near future Cape-town. Moxyland recieved critical acclaim when first launched by Angry Robot Books in July 2009 and has been nominated for a number of awards.
This year sees the launch of her second novel, again published by the hotest newly independant publisher of scifi and fantasy – Angry Robot Books. Zoo City is released on the 1st September 2010 and Lauren Beukes is making a special trip to London in good old blighty as a very special guest of the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) on this next Wednesday evening (28th July 2010) , she will be performing a short reading, followed by an interview.
Posted by Scifi Fan on Jul 16, 2010 Posted in Books
The 19th July 2010 marks the launch of the new website Titan Books by the distinguished publisher of Books specialises in high quality film, TV and music tie-ins, illustrated books, fiction and graphic novels.
The new site has been created by one of the UK’s principal digital agencies – Zone (Penguin, Film Four and The Economist).
Featuring up to the minute news on Titan’s much loved brands including The Simpsons, Supernatural, Batman, Kick-Ass and Star Wars, the site promises to be that little bit special.
Other features include exlusive interviews with artists and authors, (including comic legend Joe Simon), guest blogs by authors and experts, exlusive sneak previews, sample chapters and even clips of games and films.
There will be new daily competitions running for a whole 30 days starting from the 2nd August and prizes will include an XBox 360, original artwork, props from hit TV shows such as CSI and Firefly, as well as a plethora of signed books, DVDs and CDs.
Posted by Scifi Fan on Jul 9, 2010 Posted in Science Fact
This Tuesday (6th July) was the 63rd anniversary of the Roswell UFO incident and even those with no interest or knowledge of UFO’s or aliens have heard of Roswell, 6th July 1947. The story goes that a UFO crashed in the desert around Roswell and that the American military recovered parts of the spaceship and also alien bodies, which they performed autopsies on.
The military later called a press conference where they released photo’s of a few officers holding onto what appears to be silver foil and wood, parts of a crashed military balloon. Many believe that this was a cover-up and most witness accounts tell a very different story. This controversy has continued ever since, with many new witnesses coming forward over the years including a military Major who was involved in the recovery (Jesse Marcel) and former mortician Glen Dennis who gave a detailed account of the alien autopsy’s performed.
