Junkyard was a short story written by Clifford D. Simak and published in Galaxy Magazine in 1953. NBC converted it into a Radio Drama in 1956 for the program X-Minus One. That show is now in the public domain and available to anyone who wants to listen to it or download it for their own collection. They dramatized some of the best classic science fiction short stories from Galaxy Magazine by an amazing array of authors, including L. Sprague de Camp, Fritz Leiber, and Philip K. Dick, to name just a few more. These particular examples of the show are courtesy of the good folks at SFF Audio, who are an excellent source of such programs.
A ton of movies based on Philip K. Dick books have been made, but Amazon is taking a shot at doing a TV series based on The Man in the High Castle. This multi-award winning novel takes place in a parallel time line where Germany and Japan won WWII, and the number one underground hit in occupied America is a science fiction story about the Allies winning the war instead. Executive produced by Ridley Scott, this is part of Amazon’s new Amazon Pilot Season. They basically made the pilot episode, you watch it, and you rate it, telling them if you want to see more. They will turn some of these pilots into original series which you can watch on their streaming service, and I really hope they go with this one; the pilot was excellent.
This amazing video has a conversation between Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, and Arthur C. Clarke. I was alive when this was recorded, and I had actually spoken with Sagan before this point, so I am sorry I missed this historic chat in person. Luckily there were cameras rolling, so I get to enjoy the event all these decades later. Pay attention as three of the most brilliant people the human race have spawned take a few moments to lay out how the universe actually works for the rest of us.
The Australian film Predestination is based on the Robert A Heinlein story All You Zombies, and it will be on the big screen in some US major market theaters this Friday. It will also be available On Demand on most systems Friday, so if a theater near you isn’t showing it you can still get to watch it.
They took Robert A. Heinlein’s time-travel story All You Zombies and turned it into an Australian movie called Predestination, and it will be out in January. This segment is the first 7 minutes of the film, just enough to give you a feel for the rhythm and mood of this rendering of the story. The tale is more twisted than Heinlein usually got, except when he was mucking about in time. Thanks to io9 for the heads up on this one.
Seventh Son is a nice looking fantasy adventure which should be on the big screen around February 6th. The film is based on Joseph Delaney’s book series The Last Apprentice, also called Spooks. I am looking forward to this one, and I think I have time to catch up with all the books before I sit down in the theater.