Steven S. DeKnight is a name familiar to Whedonverse fans, having produced and written some of the darkest episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. (He wrote Willow’s flaying of Warren Meers. That was watercooler vengeance.) He’s also written episodes of Dollhouse and Smallville. But his real glory has been found in the arena, as the creator of Starz’s bloody fun series Spartacus.

[Read more]

Tony Scott, brother of Ridley, made his feature film directorial debut with 1983’s The Hunger. Based on Whitley Strieber’s novel of the same name, this is a stylish, adult tale of a vampire and her consorts. No sparkles here. No fangs. Instead we get Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie, two preternatural beauties in their own right, as a vampire power couple on the decline. Panned by many critics upon its initial release, the years have turned The Hunger into a cult classic. Where else can you find David Bowie, Bauhaus, bare breasts, blood, and monkeys all in one place?

And that’s just the opening six minutes.

[“She’s that kind of woman. She’s... European.”]

By now, most fans of George R.R. Martin’s sprawling A Song of Ice and Fire have read and reread A Dance with Dragons. To say that this was the most anticipated book of 2011 would be disingenuous. More than just a new release, Martin’s novel was an event. Hardcore fans went to midnight release parties, took days off from work. The slower readers among us — myself included — avoided the internet as much as humanly possible and began every watercooler conversation with “I’m on page so-and-so. No spoilers.” (Still didn’t keep a co-worker from accidentally spoiling the last chapter of the book for me. Oh well.)

But the initial feeding frenzy is over. There’s some distance between the swirl of emotions that come with reading the first Martin novel since 2005. We’ve not heard from Jon Snow, Danerys Targeryon, Bran Stark, or Tyrion Lannister in eleven years and meeting them again, right where we left them at the end of A Storm of Swords is both comforting and disorientating. It’s seems almost unfair to judge A Dance with Dragons on first impression because so much of the talk preceding its publication was as much about fan expectations as it was about the book itself.

So how does one feel about A Dance with Dragons on the second go-round?

[Read more... Major spoilers ahoy.]

Danish director Lars von Trier’s (Antichrist, Dancer in the Dark) latest stage-y drama is the antithesis of the Roland Emmerich apocalypse movie, for good or ill. Kirsten Dunst stars as Juliet, a new bride who, much like the titular planet, destroys most everything in her path. That’s not a spoiler, by the way. The opening of Melancholia is also its ending, only more memorable and gorgeous. We are treated to a stunning montage of tableaux set to a Wagner symphony. Juliet near-swoons as dead birds fall around her. Juliet’s sister Claire (von Trier muse Charlotte Gainsbourg) clutches her son to her chest as she tries to run away. A horse collapses in slow motion. We see Melancholia slowly approach Venus, almost colliding, but the music swells and this moment of would-be suspense seems impossibly romantic, as if two celestial bodies are moving in for a kiss.

So, with the inevitable ending out of the way, what is Melancholia really about, if not the end of the world?

[Read more]

Iconic director Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Alien, the forthcoming Prometheus) produces and hosts a new eight-part miniseries for the Science Channel that hopes to be the definitive exploration of science fiction’s ability to spark real-world genius. Profiling one legendary author per episode, the show features a wide range of talking heads, from theorectical physicist Dr. Michio Kaku to Starship Troopers director Paul Verhoeven, discussing seminal works of literature and the scientific facts they predicted. Upcoming episodes look at the writings of Isaac Asimov, H.G. Wells, Phillip K. Dick, Robert Heinlein and... George Lucas.

[Read more]

A self-help book just for nerds? From that Web Soup guy? When the ARC of comedian Chris Hardwick’s The Nerdist Way: How to Reach the Next Level (In Real Life) (Berkley Books) showed up at the Tor.com offices, I was more than a little cynical. Years of exposure to the Something Awful forums and being a life-long New Yorker have given me a powerful snark response. Yet, secretly, I was intrigued. Let’s be honest here. While this isn’t the usual kind of book we review on Tor.com, if you’re reading this blog, chances are, you are a nerd. Or a geek. Whatever label you prefer, unless you shun labels, man. (Then you are probably a filthy hipster. Sorry.) And it goes without saying that if you write for Tor.com, you are most certainly a nerd.

Chris Hardwick is more than just internet-popular; he is a professional nerd. And he is everywhere this year. Being a talking head on G4 and E! Hosting that odd Walking Dead post-show on AMC. He has a hit podcast. He moderates panels at Comic-Con and SXSW. He’s a contributing writer for Wired. He’s got over 1.5 million followers on Twitter.

But this isn’t a book about self-promotion, it’s life advice.

Could this guy, with his flippant references to Han Solo, his carefully mussed hair and celebrity name-drops really be One of Us?

[Do you need to Doctor Xavier your mind?]

Showtime’s popular series Dexter returns for its sixth season this Sunday. Break out the celebratory knives!

America’s favorite serial killer has found an uneasy balance between his homicidal urges, his job as a blood spatter expert at Miami Metro, and his recent single parent status. The year also finds Dexter searching for faith and wondering what kind of legacy he’ll leave to his son Harrison. To help lead —or most likely mislead — him on the path of the righteous man, we get a promising bunch of guest stars.

[Read more... after the cut]

The fourth season finale of True Blood goes out with a series of bangs.

Wow.

[Big, bloody spoilers. Very bloody. So, so bloody]

The penultimate episode of the season brings us lots of fireworks, magic, and a fairy. Just one fairy, true. But still. We all knew we weren’t making it out of this season without more fairies. Sigh. And did you know werewolf breakups come with official language? Fascinating.

[“Marnie puked a bitch out.”]

What a vast improvement this week’s episode of True Blood was over the last tepid offering. Things happened. Eric made sarcastic jokes. Tommy and Sam patched up their relationship. Sookie, Jason, Lafayette, and Jesus came up with a plan to save the hostages at Moon Goddess, including Marnie, from the malevolent Antonia and a bunch of pissed off vampires. This totally went off without a hitch.

Hell, we even spent time at the Bellefleur house without getting annoyed.

[“It’s a Latin thing.”]

This year marks the tenth anniversary of Halo, one of the biggest video game franchises of all time, and the very first Halo Fest. Held in conjunction with PAX Prime, badge holders got special access to a weekend of panels, game previews, tournaments, and exhibits for Halo fans of all ages.

[Read more...]

Well, that was an episode of True Blood. We can all agree, right? That was not some other madcap zany sitcom pretending to be True Blood? What a strangely off-putting hour. There was a big Festival of Tolerance no one talked about before this week, more soft-focus sex, and a bit of forward propulsion in the last five minutes. Spoilers ahead.

[What’s in the Monster Box? Taylor Swift, for starters...]

I had to silver myself to keep from walking out on last week’s episode of True Blood but tonight had two weeks’ worth of action paced into the hour. Antonia made the first volley in the war between witches and vampires, but King Bill has a few tactics of his own. Werewolves are neutral creatures but lovestruck part-fairies are definitely not. Lala wandered into a very bad storyline without Jesus around to protect him. (Jesus, Lafayette’s boyfriend. I’m pretty sure that other Jesus got bored with the Bellefleur house a few weeks ago.)

[A midsummer night’s copious amounts of self-absorbed dreams...]

Author John Shirley has been writing for print, film, TV and video games for several decades and while his medium may change from project to project, his focus remains largely on the darker side of life. Considered an early influence in the cyberpunk and splatterpunk movements, Shirley’s City Come-a-Walkin’ and A Song of Youth trilogy brought him early acclaim. He’s collaborated on short stories with William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. He wrote the initial script for The Crow as well as scripts for Deep Space Nine. His 1998 collection Black Butterflies won the Bram Stoker and IHG Awards that year. Lately, in addition to producing original works, Shirley’s been writing a slew of media tie-novels including Doom and Bioshock: Rapture.



[Twenty-two stories meant to test your limits...]

Well, you can’t really keep at a sprint forever, right? This week’s episode of True Blood was pretty damn boring, truth be told. At least until the last ten minutes. It’s not that the hour was without some highlights (that ending!), but it overall felt like a ton of set-up. Sookie asks some important questions, La-la unlocks his potential, and bad witch Antonia finds a new BFF.

Spoilers ahead.

[Tara cries some more. Shocking, I know...]

Things have been building greatly on this season of True Blood. I’d go so far as to say if you haven’t been watching, it’s worth getting caught up. I’m trying to be cautiously optimistic that the story won’t fall apart in the final act, like it has in years past. We’ve been fairy-free for too long and it’s making me nervous. On the other hand, Fiona Shaw is hands-down the best thing to have happened to this show in a long time. She’s really playing dual roles to fantastic effect. Someone, somewhere in a small liberal arts college has to have written a paper about the use of women of a certain age as villains on True Blood. First Maryann, then Claudine, now Marnie. I’m definitely noticing a pattern on this younger-skewing show.

But anyway. There were a ton of great character twists and turns last night. But some characters remain unchanged in more ways than one.

[Forlorn King Bill is forlorn...]

San Diego Comic Con officially began Thursday morning as hordes of people from all walks of fandom rushed into the exhibit hall and panel rooms. After a busy shift in the Tor Booth (#2707) giving away free swag and meeting new people, it was time to head upstairs for the noon “Putting the ‘Epic’ in Epic Fantasy” panel where some of the genre’s brightest stars talked about their craft.

Brandon Sanderson (The Way of Kings), Kevin J. Anderson (Terra Incognita), Chistopher Paolini (The Inheritence Cycle), Peter Orullian (The Unremembered), Patrick Rothfuss (The Name of the Wind), and K.J. Taylor (The Fallen Moon series) were on hand to discuss the history of epic fantasy and their approach to writing it.

George R.R. Martin was also a guest on the panel, which surely attributed to the extremely long line to get into Ballroom 6A. There had to be close to a thousand people packed into the room and every one of them a dedicated reader. In a convention that has largely morphed into one about movies and video games, it was really great to see such enthusiasm for books.

[Epic beards, world-building, and more...]

This week we’re looking at the 2011 Hugo Nominees for Best Novel. You’ll be able to find all the posts in this ongoing series here.

The competition for the 2011 Hugo Award for Best Novel will be very fierce this year, with nominations going to ambitious works by genre masters Connie Willis and Lois McMaster Bujold and exciting debuts from “new” writers Mira Grant (a pen name) and N.K. Jemisin, but my money is on Ian McDonald’s thrilling The Dervish House (Pyr.) A master in his own right, McDonald has written some of the best SF of the last fifteen years. Desolation Road, Evolution’s Shore, Brasyl, and numerous novellas and short stories were lauded with some of the genre’s top award nods. His 2005 novel River of Gods, set in a 2047 India of warring city-states is one of my favorite novels and how it lost the Hugo to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell that year just boggles my mind. It’s an English Patient-level Best Picture Oscar upset.

I am not a widely-read hard SF reader and topics such as nanotech and zero-point energy intimidate me a bit, but I have always found McDonald’s work very approachable. What compels me to read him again and again is his adept handling of a large cast of unique characters in developing countries seldom featured in SF. In these speculative near futures, Sao Paolo, Mumbai, and — in The Dervish House — Istanbul become major centers for technological innovation and post-human evolution. And why not? In a world becoming more and more connected, it is arrogant and misinformed to think that the current First World will be the only players.

[“Necdet sees the woman’s head explode.”]