The peeps over at the official BBC site have just posted an update:
Celebrating Van Gogh We take a look back at one of the most touching stories from series five in celebration of Vincent Van Gogh's birthday... Sneaky pictures fresh from set... Not much had been confirmed about the Doctor's forthcoming adventures but we think it's safe to say we can expect to see the return of perhaps the Doctor's most legendary foe... Oodles of Action on BBC Three! BBC Three takes us back in time and series four where we rejoin the 10th Doctor's adventures...
Blog of Paul Cornell - writer of Doctor Who (and other stuff, of course!)
Casual Friday: Bread and Circuses It hasn't been as busy a work week as some recent ones. Monday was spent on Project M, which is proceeding apace, and yes, I know you have no idea what that means. I wrote fifteen pages of Demon Knights, 3000 words of prose, for a new novelette that's been requested by somewhere very pleasing, and, for the next issue of Vector, an article about the psychogeography of London. I also got within two seconds of my personal best time for a two mile run. Which is both pleasing and frustrating. On Wednesday night I went along to the BSFA open meeting, which this time round was a discussion of the BSFA Awards, hosted by their organiser, Donna Scott. I was rather in two minds beforehand as to what to do when the panel came to discussing the Short Fiction category, in which I'm nominated, but as it turned out they were kind enough to say they enjoyed my story, and I could safely stay in the room without limiting their critique. I came away from the whole thing having had loads of lovely conversation, feeling cossetted by my genre.
And you know when there's a new huge controversy in SF, and you don't really want to comment because it involves your all-time favourite author, and besides, everyone has already said anything you might say about it, and you'd just be re-hashing their points of view? Yeah, that. Anyway...
Another question in our This Time Next Year Game has been answered, question 12. The June issue of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine is out, and despite some good guesses, none of you correctly identified any of the authors featured therein. (I'm amazed that many of you thought that was my cute way of announcing I'd placed another story there!) So the leaderboard remains as it was.
Yesterday we went to see The Hunger Games, which I found pleasing. (Enormous SPOILERS follow.) It's good to see a huge box office hit that's a proper movie. By that I mean that it's not just a series of crowd-pleasing things held up in front of us, but approaches us with story and draws us in. Indeed, it's enormously interior, a rising tension generated by the way the direction stays close to facial features, often blurring backgrounds, including big CGI design work other SF films would be desperate to show off. That's just what's out there, the picture says, it's what's inside this person that's important. That's incredibly refreshing, the reverse of recent Hollywood logic. (This closeness to the lead also allows the violence to be played at a level that's appropriate for the age certificate; it's horrible, but it's glimpsed somewhere over there as she's running from it.) The movie is finished, complete, ready to show to an audience, without flapping loose ends created by conflict inside the production. It's incredible that that's become a great compliment. Okay, the story is a teenage story, where the world parents made is so unfair. It asks us to loftily condemn the spectacle of violence while really enjoying it. ('This terrible dystopia forces me to kill bullies in really satisfying ways, while neatly never encountering an actual ethical dilemma.') But so what? Big hit movies are about indulging us like that. I was a little sighing about how the only way the politics connect with anything approaching a critique of the modern world is that there are still, and always have been, bread and circuses. But I quite liked that the tyranny is so complete that we come to like characters who help our heroes but still do not for a minute rebel against the way things are. When winning the Games is the best you can hope for, then winning the Games is heroism. (I know the sequels will change all that, but this is what's in front of me now.) Jennifer Lawrence is an excellent lead, and the whole cast felt well chosen and directed. The movie as a whole gives the impression that Katniss and Peeta might have really become a couple during the Games, while the book (I gather) is firmly on the side of that all being for the cameras. (And is it a sign of the times that Spartacus now needs media coaching?) That struck me as having your cake and eating it. But all in all, I was very impressed, and I hope this leads to more female leads in action movies, more of an interior approach to the fantastic (how many of the audience will not regard this as SF because they weren't asked to boggle at mindless spectacle?) and more proper movies.
There's a new episode of The SF Squeecast out, entitled 'The Linguistic Divide of Pants', and as mentioned in last week's blog, our guest is Saladin Ahmed, who's talking about the Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks, while I rave about Anno Dracula.
James Bacon sent me this picture of him with six feet of comics...
Being the collected donations of myself and Dave Finn of Incognito Comics towards this year's Worldcon teen lounge. James is, as always, doing an amazing job there.
Videos of me being interviewed at the London Super Comic Con keep appearing, this one courtesy of Elisar at Talking Comics...
And speaking of comics, I got the chance to read an advance copy of the first issue of China Mieville's Dial H for Hero, and as you see, I really loved it.
We've once again got two interviews with fans coming to their first Eastercon (which is now officially a sell out, with no more tickets available on the day), but on the same theme, I'd like to direct you to Emma Newman's blog, where she talks about the nervousness inherent in appearing at the convention, and how one's life experiences influence that. It struck a nerve with me, and I'm sure will with many of you.
Okay, so first up, take it away Grant...
What's your name? Grant Watson.
Why did you decide to go to Olympus? I decided to go for a bunch of reasons. First and foremost, I have never attended a science fiction convention outside of Australia, where I was born and where I still live. Secondly, there was a fan fund. Fan funds are a scheme in which the science fiction fan community band together and pay for fans to travel to conventions in other countries. There's TAFF (Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund), which sends fans back and forth between the UK and USA, DUFF (Down Under Fan Fund), which sends fans back and forth between the USA and Australia, and even NAFF (National Australian Fan Fund), which sends fans back and forth from the different states of Australia. I ran to be the 2012 delegate for GUFF (Going Under Fan Fund), and in a fiercely fought race to be the lucky Australian fan to go to Eastercon I came... second.
The winner this year is the delightfully delightful Kylie Ding, who will also be at Eastercon representing all things Aussie, and anyone going should absolutely hunt her down and say hi during the weekend.
Since I had by this stage set my heart on going to my first international convention, and since I'd also conveniently promised my wife a holiday in the UK before and after the event, I got my finances together and decided to attend Eastercon independently.
What had you heard about previous Eastercons? Most of what I've heard about Eastercons has been from previous GUFF delegates travelling from the UK to Australia. People like Claire Brialey, Mark Plummer, Ang Rosin and James Shields.
What do you expect to be different from cons in your own fandom? I'm honestly not certain. The vast majority of my time in fandom has been in the city of Perth, where we've had an annual science fiction convention - Swancon - since 1976. Perth fandom has what seems to be a very distinct style; it's very 'blended', if you like, so fans of SF literature, TV shows, anime, gaming and comics have rubbed shoulders with each other without any sense of rivalry or intolerance. I'm now living in Melbourne, where fandom seems a lot more compartmentalised to me: there is a big gap here between 'media fans' and 'lit fans' that I'm really not used to.
What are you most looking forward to? It will read like a cliche, but I'm genuinely looking forward to meeting new people. I want to get a sense of what British fandom is like, and possibly get some ideas for how conventions are run in the UK that I can take back to Australia.
In the interests of encouraging people to say hi to me over the weekend, I can say that my core fannish interests include Doctor Who, Star Trek, Hong Kong and Asian cinema, the works of Jim Henson, DC Comics - particularly Batman, William Shakespeare and Elizabethan/Jacobean theatre, French comic creators Moebius (RIP) and Lewis Trondheim, The West Wing, old 1960s ITC adventure shows and the works of the Walt Disney Company. I have previously worked as a video store clerk, cinema manager, university lecturer and hair model, and currently work as a researcher in international education for a major Australian university. I am also in my spare time an award-winning playwright. So if any of that intersects with anyone else's interests, come and have a chat: I'll be the awkward, nervous-looking one with really short hair.
How do you think SF fans will interact with fans from your subculture? What sort of panels about your own subculture's stuff are you expecting? Surely everyone loves a gregarious Australian? If I had to pick a single primary fandom I'd always choose Doctor Who, but my interests incorporate a lot of other areas as well.
To be honest I will be very disappointed if the convention doesn't have at least one really solid, enjoyable panel about Doctor Who. After all, you're the United Kingdom: you're the home of the world's single-greatest work of science fiction television. It would be ridiculous not to celebrate that at every opportunity.
How do you see mainstream SF fandom, from the outside? My only real exposure to science fiction fandom outside of Australia was the 2010 Melbourne Worldcon, which was largely populated by Americans. There are whole aspects of that scene I simply don't get: the weird obsession with collecting ribbons, the masses of people wanting to 'filk', the immense amount of focus and devotion placed on Masquerade costumes, etc. More than anything international SF fandom seems rather conservative to me: things have to be done the same way every time, new ideas and new media isn't immediately embraced, and there does seem to be a slight stink of prejudice against genre fiction that wasn't published as a book.
Do you think there's a chance you might ever move your primary fandom to being an SF fan? That depends on your definition of 'SF fan'. Certainly I can't see myself abandoning film, TV and comics to focus more on literary fandom. I read plenty of books, have numerous favourite SF authors, but don't really put the dedication into that side of SF that I do into the likes of Doctor Who or DC Comics. That said, you will have to prise my first edition copy of The Day of the Triffids from my cold, dead fingers.
Grant can be found on Twitter as @angriest, online at his blog, and in podcast form with The Bad Film Diaries with Sonia Marcon and Panel2Panel with Kitty Byrne.
Next up is my old friend Sarah...
What's your name?
Sarah Groenewegen.
Why did you decide to go to Olympus?
Various people I know or would like to meet were talking about it on Twitter. It's been ages since I've been to a convention and Easter this year was relatively free of appointments. So, timing. Again via Twitter I heard about Eastercon last year and it seemed to be lot of fun from what the attendees were tweeting.
What had you heard about previous Eastercons?
Last year's sounded like it was a lot of fun, judging from tweets I saw. There seemed to be a lot of positive buzz. But, I haven't heard that much in terms of specifics.
What do you expect to be different from cons in your own fandom?
Less actors, more writers - which is being flippant, I know. My main fandom is Doctor Who. It's where I've been most active for the last few decades, on and off, although I've always had interests in other fandoms, including mainstream SF. I was involved in running some of the big Australian Doctor Who fan conventions - Whovention - during the 1990s. While I feel incredibly lucky to have met some of the actors involved in Doctor Who, that side of it has never really interested me. Even when I wasn't involved in running a Doctor Who con, I tended to not go to the panels of those conventions I attended. Talking to people was always much more of an attraction, and just because of the nature of Doctor Who fan cons in Australia that meant being able to talk properly to some of the actors who visited. The most interesting to me were those who didn't just talk about acting or Doctor Who - which was the majority, incidentally - but those who were vibrantly interested and passionate about all sorts of things life throws up. Good and bad.
I've been to some Doctor Who cons in the UK, and Gallifrey One in L.A. a few years ago now. Each time I question why I pay the attendance fee - I don't go to many of the panels or talks. LobbyCon was my home in L.A., and you'll find me in the hotel bar at others. I do pay up because the job the organisers do at the cons I've gone to are amazing, and I have an idea about the costs involved. Ultimately, if there was no con, I wouldn't be having such a good time with mates - old and new - in the peripheral areas.
I suspect I'll still enjoy the peripheral areas as much as I do for Doctor Who cons, but I see from the Olympus schedule there are panels I think I'll actually find interesting in and of themselves.
What are you most looking forward to?
Meeting people: old friends and new ones. That is the key for me.
How do you think SF fans will interact with fans from your subculture? What sort of panels about your own subculture's stuff are you expecting?
I guess my subculture is Doctor Who fandom - that's where I've spent most of my fannish time over the last 20 or so years. But, as I've said above, I don't go to Doctor Who cons for the panels, and while the panel topics about Doctor Who at Olympus seem quite interesting, I'm unlikely to go to many if any.
Forgive me while I delve a bit into my past.
I grew up in Sydney, Australia, during the 1970s and 1980s. I was most active as an SF fan during the 1980s and 1990s. My parents hate SF, but tolerated me and my brother watching Doctor Who and Blake's 7. My dad was a university lecturer at Sydney University, and some of his students and colleagues also liked Doctor Who and it was through them my brother and I attended the very first Doctor Who fan event ever held in Sydney, and then most of the subsequent ones. It was through going to them, and of being at just the right age, we became friends with other Doctor Who fans who were also fans of other things - Blake's 7, Hitch-hikers' Guide, and mainstream SF. You might spot I didn't mention Star Trek there. While a lot of my new friends were watchers of that show, and probably fans by any definition, they weren't really involved in Star Trek fandom in Australia. In fact, there was a bit of a nonsensical battle going on through the pages of various Aussie fanzines and newsletters at the time.
Generally, you could divide Aussie SF fandom into what was called 'Literature Fans', 'Media Fans', Star Trek fans, and then Doctor Who fans. My friends were mostly Doctor Who and 'Media' fans. In the very early 1980s my brother, best friend and I ran a Doctor Who and Blake's 7 fanzine for a few years. It was through that I made many friends in various SF fandoms. I read quite a bit of SF - Isaac Asimov, Michael Moorcock, Ursula LeGuin, Anne McCaffrey, Douglas Adams - but pretty much watched Doctor Who and then V. It was through V fandom I became friends with the people who worked at Sydney's specialist SF bookshop Galaxy. We swapped fanzines and I read SF more widely. I started to go to various conventions - not just Doctor Who ones - but sadly never made it to a WorldCon.
In summary, I think people will mingle. I certainly plan on mingling with others who are there.
How do you see mainstream SF fandom, from the outside?
Bit more varied in what topics are discussed. But, since I know quite a few mainstream SF fans also like Doctor Who (and vice versa) I'm curious about what real differences there are. I'm excited by quite a bit of the newer SF - writers like Lauren Beukes, for example.
Do you think there's a chance you might ever move your primary fandom to being an SF fan?
It's possible, but I know I'll never leave Doctor Who fandom behind :-)
Sarah's blog can be found here. Thanks very much, Sarah.
My favourite music this week is something new. I recently bought Theo Bleckmann's Hello Earth!, the jazz vocalist's collection of Kate Bush covers, and I'm impressed. He's the only artist who I think improves on a Kate original, with his 'Love and Anger'. Here's his take on 'Running Up That Hill'...
This time next week I'll be seeing some of you at Olympus 2012 (and there'll be no blog, though I will be guesting on Pornokitsch and will link to it here on the day). Please come over and say hello. I'm there as a Guest of Honour to be available. Especially if this is your first SF convention, or you've arrived from a different fandom. I'm happy to help you navigate. Until then, Cheerio!
New Doctor Who fan fiction from A Teaspoon And An Open Mind:
Dinosaurs Stole My Shoelaces by Grace157 [All Ages] ItÂ's been three days since Tegan left the TARDIS, and Turlough is bored with being stuck in the same place. When the DoctorÂ's ship lands them in the time of the dinosaurs, it becomes clear they have to prevent a catastrophe which threatens the entire future of Earth. But not everything is as it seems... Miracles by Ciaviel [Teen] Chrono-tourism, a pair of alien con artists, and the US-USSR hockey game at the 1980 Olympics: just another day in the life of Margaret and Ada, as they race to correct a changed time line. In want of a wife. by CIRaccon [All Ages] It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single Time Lord in possession of a good TARDIS must be in want of a wife. An AU about the Doctor finding his Rose in Jane Austen's time. Normal Life - With The Doctor by grigor [All Ages] There can be no such thing! But sometimes, even Rose finds his behaviour extraordinary! Homework and Memories by Krazy KySta Hatter [All Ages] Rose thinks that it's funny the Doctor's alias is 'John Smith.' She used to have a friend called John Smith who used to help her with her homework... She starts to get scared when other memories begin to surface.
Not so many years ago a new Big Finish CD was pretty much the only new Who to look forward to. They've got news:
Podcast - March 004: The Paul Spragg Podcast - 28 March 2012 Feeling a bit guilty for having locked Paul Spragg in a cupboard last week, Nick Briggs turns over the podcast to the Bristolian Bantermeister. But rather than make it all about him, this week's podcast is all about you!
Yes, it's time to rattle through more of your recent e-mails. Nick and Paul take on some tough questions from the bulging Big Finish inbox, encompassing release dates, whether their partners should do a podcast and upcoming covers - but manage to get distracted into talking about the local bridge, Cary Grant, lifestyle magazines and a recent Stargate recording.
So while you tuck into a delicious fish finger sandwich for lunch (or whatever mealtime it is where you are), why not download or stream the podcast? And if you'd like your letter featured in a future podcast, or wish to enter our Leap Day podcast competition, drop us a line on podcast@bigfinish.com
The peeps over at the official BBC site have just posted an update:
Weekend's highlights Thousands of Doctor Who fans from around the world converged on Cardiff over the weekend for the first official Doctor Who convention to be held in Cardiff...
New Doctor Who fan fiction from A Teaspoon And An Open Mind:
Strawberries? by Callywaggy [All Ages] Rose knows what she wants. My Life on Canvass by ninewood [All Ages] After losing Rose at the end of Doomsday, the Doctor learns there is still someone there for him. Harmony (a Doctor Who Novella) by thebunnyinthetardis [All Ages] Years had passed since that fateful day when the Doctor had left him with Rose Tyler on a desolate beach in Norway. Years for both of them--and while life had gone on, he was reasonably sure his had not been the fairy tale the Time Lord might have intended it to be. Now, as fate would have it, their paths were once more to cross, leading them on a journey through Time, a journey in Space, and a journey toward Wholeness. A voice he cannot identify calls. A 17th Century cannon ball lands in the garden. A blue box he never thought he would see again lands in the forest. And a Time Lord is running out of Time. Features the part-human/meta-crisis Doctor and the Eleventh Doctor. With Rory Williams, Amy Pond and others. 15 Chapters. Complete. Elizabeth by secooper87 [All Ages] SEQUEL to "Don't Be" and "Paradox". Who is Elizabeth Summers? What happened in 2003 in the other timeline? With the universe falling apart, and tensions between Elizabeth and the Doctor rising, the Scoobies struggle to work it out. In Sickness and Health by lifeinblue [All Ages] Donna has the flu. The Doctor takes care of her, and thinks about their relationship.
The peeps over at the official BBC site have just posted an update:
Travel Back in Time Seven Years... When Rose Tyler met a mysterious stranger called the Doctor, her life would never be the same again - and neither would ours! First Preview of the New Series! The first thrilling preview for the new series featuring the Doctor, Amy, Rory and glimpses of their next adventures has just been released...
After a couple of quiet weeks on the news front, we were treated to a bumper crop of topics worthy of discussion on this episode of Radio Free Skaro. Not only were we introduced to the next companion in the form of Jenna-Louise Coleman, but the official Doctor Who Convention in Cardiff gave us a new trailer for Series 7 and so much more, as told to us by our new friend Phil Cannon from the Who's He Podcast who attended the convention and had a grand time. And as if that wasn't enough, we present an interview with Graeme Burk and Robert Smith? about their new book Who Is The Doctor?, and top off the episode with a look at the works of Terrance Dicks in the Miniscope. The excitement for Series 7 is building. We hope we help you pass the time until then in an entertaining fashion!
Check out the show notes at http:/ww.radiofreeskaro.com
Blog of Paul Cornell - writer of Doctor Who (and other stuff, of course!)
My Olympus Schedule I thought it would be useful to blog in advance my schedule as a guest of this year's Eastercon, Olympus 2012. I'm very much looking forward to it, and to being a Guest of Honour, which is, as the name implies, a great honour.
Friday 6th April:
2pm: Pushing the Boundaries of Genre. (Royal B&C.) With Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Sophia McDougall, Gillian Refearn and Robert V.S. Redick.
4pm: Opening Ceremony. (Commonwealth.)
6pm: Just A Minute. (Commonwealth.) The contestants are: Pat Cadigan; Donna Scott; Tricia Sullivan and Jo Walton.
Saturday 7th April:
10am: Ethics of AI. (Room 38.) With Simon Bradshaw, Louise Dennis and Lilian Edwards.
Noon: Gender Parity on Panels at Conventions. (Commonwealth.) With Juliet E. McKenna, Farah Mendlesohn, Emma Peel, Kari Sperring and Kat Takenaka.
3pm: Guest of Honour Autographs. (Newbury 1.)
5pm: Wild Cards. (Commonwealth.) With David Anthony Durham, Gail Gerstner-Miller, George R.R. Martin and John Joseph Miller.
Sunday 8th April:
10am: Promoting Yourself Online. (Royal B&C.) With Elspeth Cooper, Tom Hunter, Simon Spanton, Danie Ware.
Noon: Kafeeklatch. (Room 19.)
2pm: Scientists and the Media. (Commonwealth.) With David L. Clements, Jennifer Delaney, Marek Kukula and Caroline Mullan.
3pm: Guest of Honour Autographs. (Newbury 1.)
6pm: BSFA Awards Ceremony. (Commonwealth.)
Monday 9th April:
10am: Guest of Honour Autographs for Fans with Disabilities. (Royal B&C.)
11am: Interview. (Commonwealth.) With Tammy Taylor.
3pm: Reading. (Commonwealth.)
4pm: Closing Ceremony. (Commonwealth.)
9pm: From Fan to Pro. (Room 41.) With Kari Sperring and Charles Stross.
I think that's a pretty brilliant selection, a real gift from the organisers. I especially like that last panel, which is the only panel at that point, a brilliant chance to end the convention with a celebration. And the autograph panel for fans with disabilities is a great idea. Apart from all that, of course, I'll be in the bar. I hope to see you there. (And if you are planning to come along, and haven't bought a ticket yet, note that they're close to selling out.) Cheerio!
Blog of Paul Cornell - writer of Doctor Who (and other stuff, of course!)
Casual Friday: Wishes for the Future I haven't quite been able to keep up the grand productivity of last week. On Monday, I did what's become a weekly commute to go and see the friend with whom I'm creating what I've taken to calling 'Project M', in an entirely new medium for me. Yesterday, I popped into London to have what turned out to be a very productive chat with Nick Briggs from Big Finish about the future of their Bernice Summerfield range (short version: it's got a very pleasing future). I've written 3000 words of prose (for a new novelette that's been commissioned for somewhere rather wonderful) and fifteen pages of Demon Knights, as well as sundry plottings and preparings and guest blogs. And I've managed to run six miles. So all in all, not a bad week, especially when it's so sunny and glorious outside that I keep on wanting to leave my desk and... well, play cricket, really.
The very first thing I should mention on today's blog is the situation of Wash and Tashi Pratt-King, a 27 year-old Doctor Who fan (and Browncoat) who's been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, and his full-time caregiver wife. The time of Wash's passing away is approaching, and he'd very much like to find someone to make a custom funereal urn to contain his ashes, made in the shape of a TARDIS. Now, I did a bit of asking around, and dear old Mike Tucker found a commercially available urn in that style, but understandably, Wash would prefer something specially made. If you're a maker of things Doctor Who, or someone who just wants to wish them well or help them out, either pop along to Tashi's blog above, or get in touch with her on Twitter (@RedTapeLass), and show them the support that a fan community can give. All our love goes out to them both.
This week we watched 13 Assassins, a samurai movie from 2010, directed by Takashi Miike, and I must say, I think it's a bit of a masterpiece. (Huge spoilers follow. Go see it.) It concerns the efforts of the Shogun's advisors to find an honourable way of stopping the psychotic Lord Matsudaira Naritsugu from accepting the position of power already promised to him by the Shogun. Rather in the manner of 'who will rid me of this turbulent priest', the job of assassinating the Lord is given to a samurai who has always wanted to find a cause to fight for, and is willing to give his life rather than end it in peaceful retirement. He finds, in yet another new take on Seven Samurai, twelve others to accompany him on his suicide mission. The story is set in an era of peace, with the Shogunate slowly unraveling, and every character is shaped by the political forces of a world that's starting to look as if there's no point to it. It turns out, wonderfully, that the mad lord has been mentally deformed by the pressure of a society where he's not allowed to be happy in peacetime. In other words, that he's expressing the same urge for glory as our hero feels, the difference being that said hero would have let himself continue fishing on his estate, rather than using whole families for target practice. The team use alliances and diplomacy to send the mad Lord's army of retainers (led by an entirely honourable and competent warrior who's point of view is the militarist one that rules are there to be obeyed, no matter who's giving them) into a village they've set up as a trap. Havoc ensures. Terrible things happen. Satisfaction is just about found in just about justice, all utterly undermined by the villain declaring that the hero has given him the best day of his life. Miike paints a very realistic Samurai world, everything looking lived in and real. His fights are spectacular, but there's no balletic wire work here; everything is possible, and lots of wounded men fall in the mud. Indeed, one gets some idea of how the whole business of soldiery without gunpowder must actually have worked. This is a Samurai Movie like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a Western. That is to say, it's fully of that genre, in dialogue with it, yet it, pointedly, indicates its potential to go outside it. Butch and Sundance leave the Western behind entirely for a spell, to set up the possibility that they might take up an entirely non-generic existence in New York. A character at the end of 13 Assassins declares he's going to hop a ship to the USA, which makes one suddenly think, as in Butch, that, oh, yes, that character didn't have to live in that genre, other options were available, which is, I think, entirely the intended reaction. Miike here is half John Ford and half Quentin Tarantino, because he's determined that the violence is going to be over the top and fun, also. Except when we get down to the horror of it, and the camera view actually topples over, to see the messy struggles from the point of view of a dying man. I also say Tarantino because of the tension and the precision in the set-up, because a few moments of severe horror are enough to make us feel nervy about the rest of the movie, because just and unjust desserts are served up, and because Miike establishes complete control of the narrative so he can do one astonishing, narrative-breaking thing. The character of Kiga Koyata is the happy go lucky comedy relief our heroes pick up on the way, found captured in a trap in the woods, a man who lives in the wild. Towards the end of the film, he's killed, skewered right through the neck, absolutely no doubt about it dead. And then he pops up at the end again, utterly unharmed, just because the director has that power to reach down into a narrative, and, having shown us an explanation of the processes that lead to fascism, and the grinding awfulness that results, feels able to use the mercy of a god to save one good person. Now, I've heard that Miike in interviews refers to Kiga as a forest spirit, a Yokai, and thus immortal. But I like to think, especially since we flashback to the very human wife the character's missing, that he was speaking metaphorically. I think that, unlike the system that the movie so illuminates and skewers, Miike demonstrated that one can ignore the rules in favour of mercy.
Tales of the Emerald Serpent is a proposed shared world anthology, looking for (and getting) Kickstarter funding, which should appeal to many visitors of this blog. It's a sword and sorcery collective, in the tradition of Lankhmar, about the Free City of Taux and the infamous Black Gate district therein. Authors featured include Juliet E. McKenna, Julie Czerneda and artist turned author (he must be getting fed up of that description) Todd Lockwood. There's a video on the sight explaining the project, and there are all sorts of great bonuses for those who pledge different amounts of money, starting at $5. Worth a look.
On the last edition of the SF Squeecast that we recorded, which isn't out yet, our guest was Saladin Ahmed, whose Throne of the Crescent Moon has been getting rave reviews lately, notably in Locus...
I mentioned on the podcast how much I love that cover, which does its business (which is to say that this is brand new high adventure in the style of The Arabian Nights) very well, only for Seanan McGuire's cat to start loving the cover so much she ended up eating it. Saladin proved to be a very fun guest, especially since his chosen items to squee about were the Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks. So it's with great pleasure that I direct you to the first chapter of the book with Saladin's description of it, reviews and a rather lovely map. Do check it out.
In the run up to Eastercon, I'm going to be featuring two interviews with fans new to that event today, and two next Friday. So firstly, take it away Kathryn...
What's your name?
Kathryn Peak.
Why did you decide to go to Olympus?
Because it’s about time. I must confess to being a bit of a sci-fi denier. I have read genre fiction since I was a kid, loved sci-fi on television and in films, yet as a writer always tried to write straight fiction. I think it was Einstein that said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Well, it has taken years and years of not particularly liking what I was writing before I had my light bulb moment. I recently finished and shelved a novel. It is not good and will never see the light of day, but it was the first time I just let rip and wrote what I like to read, and like a confused child finally getting the joke, the penny dropped and I switched to writing genre.
What had you heard about previous Eastercons?
I know only what I have gleaned from the Internet, which includes the web pages for this year’s and previous years’ events, blog pieces, and a lot of photos of Eastercon delegates. Now here’s the thing. In a previous life I worked in politics and for NGOs, and I have been to a lot of party conferences. And the photos from these conferences are really not that different. Yes, a lot of the people in the photos look a bit geeky, with the glazed look of someone who has spent the afternoon in the bar rather than in a conference hall. Now, if we could only get more of the delegates at political conferences to dress up in costume, I think more people would watch party conference coverage on TV.
What do you expect to be different from cons in your own fandom?
This isn’t really a question I can answer, as the whole shebang is new to me. I am coming in from the wilderness; just hoping the natives are friendly.
What are you most looking forward to?
Listening to panels on literature. I follow quite a few writers, reviewers and publishers on twitter, but they talk primarily about new releases. Every time someone mentions their influences, old books they have read, it sends me scurrying off to search them out. But mostly, I am looking forward to being a room with people talking about SF with as much enthusiasm as I feel about SF. I want to wallow in it. That would be nice.
How do you think SF fans will interact with fans from your subculture? What sort of panels about your own subculture's stuff are you expecting?
Again, pass. I don’t have much to compare it to. My subculture is ‘writer in cubby hole’, and from the evidence on twitter, there are a lot of us out there, sending each other supportive messages and generally bigging up each other’s efforts. If I have any expectation it is an optimistic one. Much of the conversation on-line suggests that sci-fi is an interactive process, where fans are writers, writers are fans, and a good amateur fanzine is given reasonable currency. I would hope to find that played out at Eastercon.
How do you see mainstream SF fandom, from the outside?
I am still trying to get my head around what mainstream SF really is. When I come across fellow fans of SF, we may find a few points of reference, but the parameters are so wide that you can stay inside the bestsellers and mainstream franchises and still not read or watch the same material. SF fandom seems to lend itself to specialization. I suppose my only concern is one of ignorance. Of the books, shows, films and comics that I really like, I know a fair bit about them. But SF is huge and my consumption time is limited. The geek community has a reputation for knowledge one-upmanship that would leave me in the dust. In the egg and spoon race of life I tend to be the one on the sideline taking notes.
Do you think there's a chance you might ever move your primary fandom to being an SF fan?
On the contrary, as a fan I feel like I’m still shopping for my particular thing. In that sense, Eastercon serves a useful purpose by being general, not particular, and therefore a good place to shop. Of course, as a writer I enjoy tickling my imagination and taking whatever bits and pieces seem interesting to me, so I don’t want to limit myself too much. Mixing it up is half the fun.
Thanks very much, Kathryn. Next up is an old friend of mine ...
What's your name?
Peter Anghelides.
Why did you decide to go to Olympus?
I was invited to attend and talk about Blake's 7.
What had you heard about previous Eastercons?
I knew some of my pals had attended in previous years, and that it isone of the UK's biggest SF conventions. And that it's approach to whatconstitutes SF was quite eclectic. I keep meeting people who know moreabut it than I do. I was talking to a Writers Group in Farnborough theother week, and said I'd been 'invited to something called Olympus 2012in London', and several of them said 'is that Eastercon?'
What do you expect to be different from cons in your own fandom?
I'm not sure whether I have a fandom. I suppose the cons I've been toin the past have all been about media SF, especially Doctor Who and Blake's 7. And those conventions have, on the whole, been abouthaving guests from the cast and production teams, and autograph lines,and episodes being screened, and people in costumes. Plus I enjoymeeting my pals at the bar. I gather than Eastercon is as much (if notmore) a celebration of the fan community itself. But the biggestdifference will be that I'm not as steeped in the broader SF as otherattendees. But so long as I don't have to sit some kind of test to getin, I should be okay.
What are you most looking forward to?
Seeing how a big UK SF convention runs. The last con I went to wasGalifrey One in a Los Angeles airport hotel, which had about 3,000there. Eastercon is in a Heathrow airport hotel, so the downside isthat the hotel pool will be a bit chilly. But on the upside, I won't beso jetlagged travelling in from Hampshire. The last time I was in thatparticular Heathrow hotel was for a business conference. So if I have aflashback and start to use words like 'leverage' or 'synergy', perhapssomeone can shake me in an attempt to snap me out of it.
How do you think SF fans will interact with fans from yoursubculture?
I'd have thought there'd be some overlap with other SF enthusiasts --there must be common threads through the things we like. If they aren'tinterested in my subculture, there'll be plenty else to keep themoccupied. But if someone asks me abut Tanith Lee, for example, I'llknow more about her Blake's 7 episodes than her Tales from the FlatEarth series. (Are you sure there isn't a test?)
What sort of panels about your own subculture's stuff are you expecting?
Just the one I'm participating in, about the new Blake's 7 audioseries from Big Finish.
How do you see mainstream SF fandom, from the outside?
With the same fascination, I hope, that non-SF people view myenthusiasm for media SF. But I'm not sure what counts as 'mainstream SF' anyway. As a comparison, there are people who would assert that SF is not 'mainstream literature', which is not especially meaningful oruseful. So I suppose I'm reluctant to categorise.
Do you think there's a chance you might ever move your primary fandom to being an SF fan?
So long as there isn't some kind of entrance exam.
Peter's website is here (he tweets as @anghelides) and you can find out more about the Big Finish Blake's 7 audios here. Thank you, Peter.
I think my musical favourite pick is appropriate today. It's one of my favourite live moments, a Janis Joplin tribute where Joss Stone belts it out but then encounters (and bless her, laughs at the impact of it and gets out of the way) a complete scene stealer in the shape of Melissa Etheridge. I particularly like how Melissa sings it at Joss.
You know, I'm getting into the swing of these Friday blogs again now. And I'm really looking forward to Olympus. Next week looks like it's going to be really busy. Until next time, Cheerio!
Not so many years ago a new Big Finish CD was pretty much the only new Who to look forward to. They've got news:
Website Regeneration Big Finish is pleased to announce that our new website will be launched on the evening of 11th April 2012, and you can get a sneak peek of the homepage over to the left!
The new site has been carefully designed and built with the user in mind. We have taken on board many of our customers’ comments and have tested the new site to ensure that you can do the things you want to do and find the things you want to find quickly and simply.
'We're in the final phases of testing and there are exciting times ahead,’ says executive producer Nick Briggs. ‘Richard and his team have done a fantastic job. I'd also like to pay tribute to Paul Wilson, who has done such fantastic work for us over the years and has been brilliant and so helpful in facilitating the changeover to the new site.'
While the site has been completely overhauled, we have tried to keep as many things familiar as possible. So your choices on the top menu will be very similar and there will be several ways for you to find what you’re after, including a drop down menu of ranges, a page displaying all the ranges Big Finish produces and an ‘any word’ search function.
Within each range, releases will be displayed in both Forthcoming and Out Now sections, with the latest release the first thing you see. Most ranges also have the new ‘Find and filter’ functionality, primarily the Doctor Who main range. This will permit you to filter releases so that you can view only those that feature a certain Doctor or enemy. Subscription options and processes have also been simplified and clarified.
We have also introduced the idea of Hubs, where you will find all ranges pertaining to a character or franchise; Doctor Who, Bernice Summerfield and Dark Shadows are the first.
Richard Dinnick will be in charge of the new site, taking over as Web Producer from Paul Wilson, who has moved on to become Head of Development.
‘I am thrilled to be the new Web Producer for Big Finish,’ says Richard. ‘Even more so as we have such an excellent site! I hope all Big Finish fans will find the new site as exciting as I do. I’m sure they’ll be letting us know!’
The new site represents several months’ worth of work but we haven’t finished yet. We have more plans in the pipeline for exciting, additional and interactive aspects to the new site plus a host of extra features.
In the meantime, you’ll find that there is a great deal more on the site â€" even for releases you already know about. One aspect of the site is that each release will have its own behind the scenes area where we will be adding images and interviews, alternative covers and blogs.
When we do launch, we will also have a helpful video here on the site and on YouTube to explain where you’ll find things and how you can get the most from bigfinish.com.
New Doctor Who fan fiction from A Teaspoon And An Open Mind:
There You'll Be by FelicityRedbarrow [All Ages] The Doctor is recovering from a cold and being haunted by a missing child in his dreams. What is going on? Pranking a Time Lord by Anne Elliot [Teen] Rose and Ten(II) are back in the original universe. Will they tell the Doctor they're back? Pfft! Why do that when it's so much more fun to mess with him?! Past Life, Past Love. by cheri [Adult] Ten/Rose. After purchasing a book on discovering your past lives, the Doctor regresses Rose back to her past lives and discovers that she was a part of his past in a very big way. Your Hand in Mine by thesermyshoes [Teen] Two outcasts meet on Gallifrey and become friends, then lovers, then enemies. This is their story. Unexpected Gifts by Aviv_b [Teen] The team is forced to confront long held secrets. Secrets about themselves, their families, and Torchwood all collide after an encounter with the Faeries. Will these painful revelations help them to forge a closer bond or tear them irreparably apart?
Not so many years ago a new Big Finish CD was pretty much the only new Who to look forward to. They've got news:
UNIT: Dominion Trailer and Cover Following the recent cast announcements for Doctor Who - UNIT: Dominion, further details are now available, along with a teaser trailer and the box set cover design (pictured left). This exciting box set is part of a special offer subscription package from Big Finish in the Doctor WhoSpecial Releases section of the website.
If you haven't already, you can order UNIT: Dominion along with two special Sixth Doctor releases, the Seventh Doctor Bernice Summerfield story Love and War and the brand new Eighth Doctor box set for a total price of just £55 for the downloads and £65 for the CDs. If you just want to order UNIT: Dominion on its own, it is currently available at the special price of £30. All these offers are available until December 17th 2012. After that, the prices will be going back up to our usual rates.
As previously revealed, UNIT: Dominion features the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy), Raine Creevey (Beth Chalmers) and Elizabeth Klein (Tracey Childs). There's also a brand new Doctor, played by Alex Macqueen of The Thick of It and The Inbetweeners fame, and a guest appearance from Sophie Aldred as Ace. But what's it all about? Well...
The universe stands on the brink of a dimensional crisis â€" and the Doctor and Raine are pulled into the very epicentre of it.
Meanwhile, on Earth, UNIT scientific advisor Dr Elizabeth Klein and an incarnation of the Doctor she's never encountered before are tested to the limit by a series of bizarre, alien invasions.
At the heart of it all is a terrible secret, almost as old as the Time Lords themselves. Reality is beginning to unravel and two Doctors, Klein, Raine and all of UNIT must use all their strength and guile to prevent the whole of creation being torn apart.
'This is simply an excellent dramatization of one of the highlights of the canon, and well worth a listen.
Much of the power of this audio comes not just from drawing from the canon, but also in its staging - beginning with the sound of pen scratching against paper, followed by Watson's (Richard Earl) narration, the story kicks into high gear. It's a moody, atmospheric approach that simply grabs the listener's attention and will not let go. Part of the success is also the way in which Nicholas Briggs plays Holmes - in these stories, rather than play it large, Briggs performs Holmes at almost a whisper pitch, and it is this approach that makes this audio set enthralling, so much so that you will be sorely tempted to order the other audios in the series.
One of the great aspects of the canon is that it can be adapted and moulded towards a modern sensibility (witness Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss' Sherlock); however, what Nicholas Briggs and Big Finish have done is to make it appealing to a modern ear by focusing on the clarity and simplicity of the original language, making this as much a testament to the skill of Conan Doyle's writing as much as to the appeal of his characters. The fact that his language seems so appropriate to a 21st century medium - and audience - makes this a clear statement of Conan Doyle's career as an author. The audio does something very few adaptations do - draws upon the strength of Conan Doyle's writing style. Eerily atmospheric, this audio is worth adding to your collection.'
Executive producer Nick Briggs, producer David Richardson and director Lisa Bowerman gather to discuss the latest series of adventures for everyone's favourite investigators of infernal incidents, once more portrayed with effervescent effusiveness by the incomparable Trevor Baxter and Christopher Benjamin.
Once again joined by the magnificent Louise Jameson as Leela, this time our superlative sleuths' adventures feature Jago falling in love! An encounter with Oscar Wilde! The sinister Kempston and Hardwick! And lurking in the shadows, the mysterious Professor Claudius Dark...
Hear clips from all four stories and learn the behind the scenes secrets of series four (available now for CD and download), when you download or stream the podcast now!
If you'd like to contact the podcast with an entry to our Leap Day podcast competition, some random musings or questions, you can get in touch on podcast@bigfinish.com
