News for January 2009

Is Amazon Launching a New version of the Kindle?, there is much speculation swirling around the internet after a picture was spotted with a sleeker looking Kindle reader. Amazon haven't done anything to deny the rumor, instead they have organised a press conference on 9th February at the New York Morgan Library & Museum.

The event will...

It has been confirmed that the brand new Red Dwarf episodes will be shown on Digital TV this easter. The first episodes, a two part story called "Back to Earth" will be shown on Friday 10th April 2009 at 9pm on digital channel Dave. This will be followed by a special episode with no sets, special effects or autocue and finally a behind the scenes making of...

The winners of the 2008 Aurealis Awards, given for the best works in Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy have recently been announced. The winners are:

The Graveyard book by Neil Gaiman has won this years Newbery Medal, the USA's most prestigious award for Children's Literature. The Newbery has been awarded annually since 1922 and is named after the 18th century book publisher John Newbery.

The award is presented by the American Library Association (ALA) and past winners...

The nominations are in for the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) awards, with the winners due to be announced during eastercon LX 2009 (11th April 2009), which is the National British Science Fiction convention and is staged in London.

The Nominations are:

Best Novel

An MP in the Ribble Valley has called on the government to protect independent booksellers after a much loved and well known independent book shop, Kaydee bookshop, in Clitheroe, Lancashire is having to close it's doors.

Kaydee Bookshop was named independent bookseller of the year in 1992, but due to to the incredibly tough current market is...

Sir Terry Pratchett (OBE) has been working with the BBC to film a special 2 part documentary about how he is living, coping and fighting early onset Alzheimer's.

The series shows Sir Terry's personal journey through the reality of being diagnosed with Alzheimer's, and his quest to understand the condition as he...

The Guardian online has been recently running a series called 1000 books you must read, and today turns to the Genres of Science fiction and fantasy. For some reason Horror has also been included in this category and there are also a surprising variation in these books being recommended.

Included in the list are old favorites like The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Isaac Asimov`s Foundation American Gods but also includes a few...

According to a comedy website called Chortle Lee Evans is going to be playing a role in the next Doctor Who special, to be shown at Easter which has been titled Planet of the Dead. This is the same special episode that sees Michelle Ryan as the companion.

Lee Evans, while a very hyperactive stand up comedian (who draws very large...

It has been widely reported that Barak Obama, the new president of the USA is a big fan of Science Fiction. He knows his superheroes and much prefers the struggling Spiderman / Batman characters rather than the "have it easy" Superman Heroes.

He told an audience in Wyoming that he "grew up on Star Trek" and that he "believes in the final frontier". He...

Sony has won the rights to make the film of one of the greatest classic Science Fiction Novels, Foundation by Isaac Asimov. The project is due to be directed by Roland Emmerich who's most recent film 2012 is due to be released in Cinemas 13th November 2009.

Isaac Asimov originally wrote Foundation as short stories for Astounding Science...

The new 2012 film, which see's an apocalypse of a worldwide scale, has been delayed by Sony from the original date of 10th July to the 13th November. A number of reasons are thought to be the cause of this delay, mainly due to the strong line up of summer films Sony already...

Michelle Ryan has been spotted on the set of the next Doctor Who special "Planet of the Dead", scenes of which were being filmed at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff.

This gives some credit to the rumors flying around that she was going to be the next...

There has been new evidence that could indicate life on the Red planet Mars, NASA scientists report. Large quantities of Methane in the atmosphere must be caused by one of two possibilities.

The first is a geological process, the second a biological process. If Methane is being caused by a biological process it is most likely to be microorganisms...

Ok before I get labelled a nutter (what do you mean too late!) I had better explain this bold question. For the past 7 years German Scientists have been conducting an experiment (called the GEO600) to look for gravitational waves - ripples in space-time thrown off by super-dense astronomical objects such as neutron...

The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun by JRR Tolkien is set to be published in May 2009 following christopher tolkiens editing.

The volume was originally written in the early 1920's even before the hobbit and the lord of the rings and tells the story of the Norse legend of Sigurd and the Fall of the Nilfungs. This was also the legend that inspired...

Pandemonium, the fantasy novel written by Daryl Gregory has won the 25th annual William L Crawford award for best book length work of fantasy.

Daryl's debut novel is a chronicle of one man's desperate quest to free himself from a demon that took him over when he was just a child.

The award is named after the publisher who...

A Laboratory in Japan is claiming to have created a prototype that can read and visualy record human thoughts. The ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories first move was to "tune" the device by showing test subjects 400 images and measuring their cerebral responses.

Then they carried out their first, successful test. The letters...

Is Ian Mckellan to play Gandalf in the Hobbit?, though not totally confirmed, it has been confirmed he will be involved in the new film being directed by Guillermo Del Toro.

He was quoted as saying:

" As Guillermo del Toro's directing it, I should be so lucky. And in New Zealand, a place I love, so it's almost an ideal job...

The Actor Who will play the eleventh Doctor in 2010 has been announced in a special Doctor Who Confidential.

Matt Smith, who has previously acted alongside Billy Piper in the 2006 adaptation of Philip Pullman's The Ruby in the Smoke and also in the follow-up, The Shadow in the North, will be the youngest doctor ever at 26 years old, 3...