Karen Miller - interview on "Book Swede"

As the Gnu continues (**the shame**) to plow its way through Karen Miller's second in the King Maker, King Breaker duology we are still very pleased to see that there are more titles coming from this author in the summer and only hopes that the mountain of fantasy titles next to one's bed, under one's desk and in the big crisp box from Amazon that is still unopened lessens somewhat to enable us to jump on Empress as soon as it arrives hot foot from which ever online store can ship it fast enough. (Let's hope it's straight to paperback... hardbacks take up more space than is strictly necessary... if the Gnu's humble abode sported hardbacks there would be enough to build a sizable extension... to put books in)

For those who have less patience that the Gnu, there's a great review on the Book Swede's blog. Enjoy!

Douglas Adams - ahead of the game

Today we are raising a small trumpet to our pursed Gnu-like lips to herald the 30th anniversary of Mr Adam's Hitchikers Guide books and radio series. No doubt there will be further hurroo later in the year about the milestone but Wired brought it to my attention and there it will stay.

The best thing about this article is the connection it draws to H2G2, a project Adams championed in league with that ageing behemoth, the BBC. Wired asks if this was the predecessor of Wikipedia and if, with a little more energy behind it, it might have superceded Wiki in the online, open source, user-generated world?

Given that H2G2 appears to have less than 100 entries covering "Life, the Universe and Everything" - a somewhat reductionist reflection on the world and all the wonders held therein - it would probably have needed more of a marketing boost that the Beeb are prepared to invest in any untried and untested concept.

Still, all hail Mr Adams. Just like so many of the great writers and thinkers we've lost recently, especially in the SFF world, he remains our favourite "all-around smart-arse" and a man ahead of his time.

D&D gets political...

Today we are mostly loving Wired's celebrity D&D characters, though we're not sure that Mr Bush should have scored quite so highly on level...? Paris Hilton is pretty spot-on due to her utter pointlessness and lack of contribution to the human race (outside of lower quality news reporting and teenage YouTube obsessions) but we reckon that Dawkins would make the ultimate fighter... the Gnu could take him though, you understand...

The reality of SciFi

For those oddballs among you who like a bit of reality with your SciFi, here's an excellent blog entry from the New York Times

Personally the Gnu's head is firmly entrenched in a bucket of sand when it comes to all things rational however this will make interesting fodder the next time I bump into a particle physicist.

Hugo Awards nominations

For those who haven't spotted them elsewhere, the Hugo Awards nominations listings are up - here's the top of the list but you'll need to go to the main site for the rest of them.

Best Novel

• The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon (HarperCollins, Fourth Estate)
• Brasyl by Ian McDonald (Gollancz; Pyr)
• Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer (Tor; Analog Oct. 2006-Jan/Feb. 2007)
• The Last Colony by John Scalzi (Tor)
• Halting State by Charles Stross (Ace)

Best Novella

• “The Fountain of Age” by Nancy Kress (Asimov’s July 2007)
• “Recovering Apollo 8″ by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Asimov’s Feb. 2007)
• “Stars Seen Through Stone” by Lucius Shepard (F&SF July 2007)
• “All Seated on the Ground” by Connie Willis (Asimov’s Dec. 2007, Subterranean Press)
• “Memorare” by Gene Wolfe (F&SF April 2007)

An homage to Arthur C

It seems there's a lot of it about at the moment as we bid a final farewell to Arthur C Clarke and reflect on the man and his legacy. Wired, as always covers the passing and links to this vid on YouTube which is from December last year.

The colour of marketing

So unless you've been living on a mountainside in a fantasy-style alternative reality you may have noticed that Sky have been doing a bit of promotion for the new adaptation of Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic.

We'll reserve judgement until we see it but if you want to get a sneaky peek, the Times Online has a clip up and if you're really hardcore you can submit a picture of yourself dressed as "Rinsewind" (sic) to try and win the full audio back catalogue. Now where did I put my camera....