Not long ago I mentioned the Robert A. Heinlein Radio Archives, and a bit before that it was the Ray Bradbury Radio Archive, both part of the new Radio Archives section of the Sci-Fi London web site. They have expanded their collection yet again, this time with classic radio plays from Issac Asimov and Frederik Pohl. The Asimov stories include Pebble In The Sky and Nightfall, the Pohl include Tunnel Under The World and The Map Makers. You can listen to them online, download them for your permanent collection, or if you have an Ubuntu One account you can have them delivered there to enjoy through the cloud. You should also be aware that Sci-Fi London 11, the new incarnation of their annual film festival, runs from March 1st through the 7th. Wish I could be there for it.
The short list for this year’s 2012 Hugo Awards was posted online this weekend, and includes a ton of great authors and programs. But I have to say, as much as I am excited about books from my favorite authors, it is the authors I don’t know about who made the list that excites me more. There are really good stories out there that I have never read, and most of those authors will have still more stories I might enjoy that I never would have known were there if not for these awards. And, of course, it is not just the written word that is being celebrated here. The category Best Graphic Story brings images to add a dimension to the storytelling, but I am so long out of touch with that field that I don’t recognize a single title or artist. Again, something new and interesting to explore. But then I hit Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form, and I have seen every one of them, and would be really hard pressed to choose a single one as best; although I suspect I would lean to either Hugo or Captain America. And on Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form, three of the five are from last year’s Doctor Who season. The awards will be handed out at Worldcon as always, which this year is the ChiCon, AKA Chicago 7, the 70th Worldcon convention.
UPDATE: If you want to read the novels online, all have now been released to the public, and Worlds Without End has the links. And congrats on their two nominations to the great team at SF-Signal, who will probably have links to all the nominees that can be read online in any category fairly soon now.
This Sunday we will see the first full trailer, but here is both the teaser to the trailer and a shorty trailer for the new Total Recall project. I normally don’t post twice on the same day, but this is Philip K. Dick, people!
The John Carter movie the other week was world class and amazing, but it was not Disney’s first attempt to convert ERB’s Mars stories to video. Back in 1957 Disney animator Ward Kimball built this very short but very fun little sequence. Thanks to io9 for the heads up on that one, who had it from Progress City.
Marina Orlova is better known online under the name HotForWords, and she celebrated her 100 Millionth View on YouTube in the middle of 2008. In a recent posting she examined the origin of the name of her new cell phone, and tied it into Philip K. Dick’s classic work Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep, renamed to Bladerunner when they made the movie version. So for the 17 people in the world who don’t know Philip or Marina, here is her comment on his work…
It is finally time for John Carter, and we get a Who-related film the same weekend! I have been ranting about the Burroughs movie for a few years now, and after yesterday’s post I don’t need to say much more, I am sure. The other film worth hitting this weekend stars former Doctor Who incarnation David Tennant in The Decoy Bride. The trailer and the write up make it look really, really funny, so this one may just be worth spending some time to check out.