The author and poet, nominated several times for Hugo and Nebula awards, died on Friday, July 4.
Author Archives: JD DeLuzio
Weekend Review: Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Movie SF ruled the big screen in ’77, with two lasting hits. Star Wars tooks its inspiration from old pulps, serials, and comics; Spielberg’s big movie drew on UFO contactee lore.1
Metropolis Found
The long-lost missing footage from Fritz Lang’s 1927 SF classic, Metropolis has been discovered in Argentina.
The completed film was found drinking Mai Tais on the beach in Mar Del Plata has been sitting in the Buenos Aires film archives.
Movie Discussion: Hancock
The superhero send-up is nearly as old as the genre, stretching from Ma Hunkel’s turn as the Red Tornado back in the 40s and including The Inferior Five, the Great Lakes Avengers, Howard the Duck, the Freshmen, and Mystery Men, who made it to Hollywood.
The buzz on the latest, starring Will Smith, has been somewhat less than super. Has anyone here seen it?
Hugo Awards: Short Fiction
Votes for this year’s Hugo Awards must be received by next Monday. A lot of attention goes to the novels and dramatic presentations: here are some mini-reviews of the nominated short stories, and links to online postings of the stories themselves.
Robots for the Household…. And Bedroom
It’s the twenty-first century…. And we may finally see those helpful robots of fiction.
Of course, they’d likely be made for other purposes, too….
Novel Review: Old Man’s War
When asked by Ben Bova to explain the difference between a “critic” and a “reviewer,” Spider Robinson replied, “A book critic tells you whether or not it’s Art. A book reviewer tells you whether it’s any damn good.” I don’t know that I consider Old Man’s War art. For fans of military SF, however, it amounts in the balance to a good read. It garnered a Hugo nomination, established Scalzi’s name, and its most recent sequel has been nominated for this year’s Hugo.
Michael Turner and Jack Speer, R.I.P.
Comic artist Michael Turner died yesterday after a long struggle with cancer. He was 37.
Turner was best known for his work on Witchblade, Black Panther, Superman/Batman, and his own Fathom and Soulfire.
Also, Jack Speer, author of the Fancyclopedia has passed away.
Weekend Review: The Man Who Laughs
Fans are counting down to Batman: The Dark Knight, which features the latest take on Batman’s most notorious adversary. As long-time readers of DC know DC’s lawyers frequently deny, the Joker’s physical appearance was based directly on that of Gwynplaine, hero of this 1928 adaptation of Victor Hugo’s novel.
Click here for a look at Veidt as Gwynplaine.1
Weekend Review: Heavenly Creatures
This dark gem of a film from 1994 made Peter Jackson’s reputation and led to his receiving directorial duties for The Lord of the Rings. Based on one of the most notorious crimes in New Zealand history, Heavenly Creatures holds close to the facts, making heavy use of diaries kept by one of the perpetrators. It’s a thriller, a true-crime story, a drama, a romance, and– because it enters the overactive imaginations of the teens involved– a fantasy.