Monthly Archives: June 2011

This month’s tally helpfully inflated by a few graphic novels, which are generally quicker to read. Non-fiction 5 (YTD 32) Robert A. Heinlein in Dialogue With His Century, Vol 1, by William H. Patterson Jr The Business of Science Fiction, … Continue reading →

Translated from the original French (Premieres fois), and also avalable in English (First Time), this is a collection of ten short erotic stories told in graphic form, all written by French author Sybilline (Sibylline Desmazières to her friends) and illustrated … Continue reading →

A long time ago I read Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds, and rather bounced off it; perhaps, in retrospect, it was because I read it towards the end of a long work trip and simply wasn’t in the mood. Since … Continue reading →

My US-based colleagues are attending the funeral today of the Chair of our Board this morning; he dies two weeks ago, aged 75, after a life of doing good both on the literary scene and in the humanitarian world. He … Continue reading →

I have finally managed to get my new phone set up to post to LJ, so can catch up on a few books I have finished this week. Demontage is one of the many Who novels of Justin Richards, who … Continue reading →

i) births and deaths 30 June 1978: death of David Ellis, who co-wrote The Faceless Ones (1967). ii) broadcast anniversaries 30 June 2007: broadcast of Last of the Time Lords, the 200th story and 750th episode (depending how you count) … Continue reading →

Split EU Council decides to renew EU-Morocco fish pact – fishelsewhere.eu When it first came up in 2005, only Sweden voted against; when the renewal process began in February this year, five states refused to support it; that number has … Continue reading →

births and deaths 29 June 1943: birth of Maureen O’Brien, who played Vicki in 1964-65. 29 June 1980: birth of Katherine Jenkins, who played Abigail Pettigrew in A Christmas Carol (2010). 29 June 1999: death of Declan Mulholland, one of … Continue reading →

Final Minutes Of Last Harry Potter Movie To Be Split Into Seven Separate Films | The Onion – America's Finest News Source | Onion News Network Speaks for itself really! (tags: sf funny) Before You Were Born: The Real Jersey … Continue reading →

i) births and deaths 28 June 1951: birth of Sarah Ward, better known as Lalla Ward, who played Princess Astra in The Armageddon Factor (1979) and then the second Romana from 1979 to 1981. ii) broadcast anniversary 28 June 2008: … Continue reading →

broadcast anniversary 27 June 1964: broadcast of “The Unwilling Warriors”, second episode of the story we now call The Sensorites. The Sensorites threaten to take Susan to their own planet as a hostage.

EVE Evolved: The day that EVE Online died | Massively How the owners of EVE Online are losing the confidence of their customer base. (tags: games internet) Asteroid To Buzz Earth Monday, June 27th – Observing Highlights – SkyandTelescope.com Not … Continue reading →

One of the best Rebus books so far, three intertwined mysteries taking our hero and his protégée to the murky underworld of asylum centres, strip clubs, and illegal immigration; I felt that Ian Rankin was trying unusually hard to include … Continue reading →

A brief and reflective book by Gould, on the coming millennium as seen from 1997. He makes the entirely fair point that the year 2000 is a rather arbitrary human construct in the first place, and quotes approvingly his autistic … Continue reading →

I may have just been in a bad mood, but this book just felt like total glurge to me. Little boy and little girl help an unfortunate Santa who has run into trouble, and as a reward the boy gets … Continue reading →

One of the books included in the Hugo Voter Package to help us to determine our votes for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. It’s a contemporary novel of a clandestine organistion fighting the supernatural nasties, à … Continue reading →

A collection of four fantasy romance novellas set in Ireland, by Morgan Llewellyn and three other authors I hadn’t heard of, Barbara Samuel, Susan Wiggs and Roberta Gellis. I shall not identify the author who named her female lead Ciarann … Continue reading →

I didn’t know a lot about the Spanish Inquisition before reading this fairly comprehensive but also short (221 pages) account. Pérez gives plenty of detail on how it operated, as a powerful and brutal autnomous judicial system within the Spanish … Continue reading →

A fairly brief (124 pages) but comprehensive guide to the best known Supermarionation show. A lot of things that I hadn’t realised about Thunderbirds – that there were only two seasons, with only 32 pisodes (26 in the first series, … Continue reading →

Thanks to eBay, I managed to track down this 1985 bande dessinée, which I remember browsing in a Paris bookstore shortly after publication. The author is Jan Bucquoy, best known now as the writer of the 1994 film La Vie … Continue reading →

A few coincidences have popped out of my research on Whoniversaries, including that both Adric and the Fifth Doctor were written out of the series on the same date, two years apart. Which other pairs, or sets, of stories were … Continue reading →

i) births and deaths 26 June 1914: birth of John Bailey, who played the Commander in The Sensorites (1964), Edward Waterfield in The Evil of the Daleks (1967), and Sezom in The Horns of Nimon (1979-80). ii) broadcast anniversaries 26 … Continue reading →

Asking the Wrong Questions: Game of Thrones, Season 1 Abigail Nussbaum likes the TV version a lot more than the book. (tags: sf)

i) broadcast and cinematic anniversaries 25 June 1965: cinema release of Dr. Who and the Daleks, starring Peter Cushing as eccentric scientist Dr. Who. 25 June 1966: broadcast of first episode of The War Machines

For once I am out of Brussels when the EU summit is on. However, that won’t stop me listing the participants as I did six months ago and a year ago: Jean-Claude Juncker (born 1954), Prime Minister of Luxembourg since … Continue reading →

i) births and deaths 24 June 1985: death of Valentine Dyall, who played the Black Guardian in The Armageddon Factor (1979), Mawdryn Undead, Terminus, and Enlightenment (all 1982). ii) broadcast anniversaries 24 June 1967: broadcast of sixth episode of The … Continue reading →

Presented as an interactive poll: which have you read?

From , here. Italicize the authors you’ve heard of before reading this list of authors, bold the ones you’ve read at least one work by, underline the ones of whose work you own at least one example of. Lynn Abbey … Continue reading →

i) births and deaths 23 June 1925: birth of Mary Ridge, who directed Terminus (1983). ii) broadcast anniversaries 23 June 1973: broadcast of sixth episode of The Green Death, ending Season 10 of Old Who; last regular appearance of Katy … Continue reading →

New faces added to The Hobbit cast – Den of Geek 'Barry Humphries, meanwhile, is known primarily to the world as Dame Edna Everage, and he's set to play the Goblin King in The Hobbit. Jackson says, "We're looking forward … Continue reading →