Solar Flare: Science Fiction News

Several weeks ago I saw one of my favorite bands play live, the Raconteurs. At the show I bought a limited edition tour poster created by the artist Rob Jones.

His work is quite striking, and I especially like the steampunk look he’s applied to the Raconteurs. Check out the posters here and also here, and you can begin to imagine a story for these brash young lads in the…

5. MST3K: The Movie. Although theatrically released, this is essentially no different from the television program: the wrap around segment with the evil Doctor Clayton Forrester is kind of lame, but Mike and the ‘bots (Crow and Gypsy) are in top form as they ridicule This Island Earth, a 1950’s alien invasion flick.

4. Shorts, Volumes 1 & 2. Ok, so the shorts don’t really qualify as a proper episode of MST3K,…

For the fourth week in a row, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight has dominated the movie box office. Like most people, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. As a matter of fact, I walked out of the theater thinking that this was probably the single best super hero movie adaptation ever.

However, I did have a brief moment as I watched the movie when I wished for something…lighter. Having stared straight into the…

My short story “Tooth Fairy” is available for download on the Podcastle website, read by Stephen Eley.

This story grew out of a conversation I had with my daughter when she asked me “what does the tooth fairy do with my tooth?” She caught me off guard with this question, and I said that I would have to get back to her.

This piece of flash fiction is my response…

Recently I finished reading The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, a mainstream novel with a decidedly science fictional premise. First and foremost this book is a romance, but the relationship between the two protagonists Henry and Clare is complicated by the fact that Henry suffers from a genetic condition that causes him to slip back in time at random, unexpected moments.

Books that might have an appeal to readers outside…

Back in the summer of 2002 it occurred to me that we were at the beginning of a “golden age of geekdom.” What prompted this thought? The fact that within the space of one year we would see a brand new movies devoted to Star Wars, Spider-Man and Lord of the Rings. If you had told me this back when I was twelve, I would have been over the moon with joy.…

Video journal #4 is up at the official Warner Brothers Watchmen movie website. It’s hosted by comic book artist Dave Gibbons, and the video gives us a few tantalizing glimpses of how the world he and Alan Moore created will look on film. He remarks upon the incredible attention to detail that is being put into the film, which certainly is impressive. This will no doubt please the purists who demand…

D.K. Thompson, a writer friend of mine, has just launched a new podcast called “The Unbelieveable Origin of Superspiff and the Toothpick Kid.” This is part one of a short story about a superhero called Cyberpunk who is approached by a couple of fanboys at a comic book convention:

Okay, here’s the golden rule of comic books: everyone has a secret identity. Sure, the superhero has a secret identity, but people…

There can be no doubt that Sean Connery is a cinematic legend. He is the definitive James Bond, and he is Indiana Jones’s father. He won an Oscar for his portrayal of Jim Malone in The Untouchables, and rightly so. He is The Man. But for someone as highly regarded as him, he’s appeared in some really…let’s just say, craptacular movies.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)

Connery plays Allan Quatermain in this…