Fantasy Minute for January 15, 2006: Episode 133

Publishers Weekly has listed their Listen Up Awards for 2005. The winners in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section are: Terry Pratchett’s Thud!, read by Stephen Briggs, Ben Bova’s Mercury, read by Stefan Rudnicki, Arte Johnson, and Moira Quirk, and Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: The Tertiary Phase, read by Adams, Simon Jones, Geoffrey McGivern, Susan Sheridan, and the rest of the cast.

To celebrate the release of Thomas Kidd’s book Kiddography, Budd Plant Comic Art will be given away three pieces of original Thomas Kidd art to be determined by a random drawing from people who order the book or enter on-line. Entries for the drawing begin on February 1 and will run through the end of April.

The Sci-Fi Channel has announced that it will be airing the Christopher Eccleston season of Dr. Who starting in March. Chris Roberson notes that they are using the slot that will be vacated by Battlestar Galactica.

Fantasy Minute for November 6, 2006: Episode 127

C S Lewis: Beyond Narnia, A short film exploring Lewis's personal story, starring Anton Rodgers and Diane Venora will air on BBC 2 from 9-9:55 pm. Unlike the full length feature Shadowlands, this short biopic is said to include the character of Tolkien, both as a younger and an older man. This should be of interest to Tolkien and Lewis readers.

Barnes & Noble's has released their Top Ten SF/F Novels of 2005. Included in this year’s list are Brandon Sanderson, John Meaney, and Robin Hobb.

The first annual Carl Brandon Awards are open to submissions for speculative fiction at long or short length by or about people of color. The awards, which will be presented at Wiscon and carry a $1,000 prize, is juried and named after the fictitious fan created by Terry Carr and Peter Graham. Two awards will be presented, the The Carl Brandon Parallax Award, for works written by a person of color and The Carl Brandon Kindred Award for works dealing with issues of race and ethnicity. Any author is eligible for the Kindred Award.

Fantasy Minute for January 5, 2006: Episode 126

NarniaWeb has learned that Douglas Gresham is already busy working on Prince Caspian. They also have the pictures of the Narnia DVD covers that are due out in April.

News from Audio Renaissance. They recently acquired the rights to A Crown of Swords and will be publishing the unabridged audio book this fall. Look for it October 2006.

All of the Wheel of Time™ books have been recorded in unabridged format read by Michael Kramer and Kate Reading and most are now available from Audio Renaissance. They are available in both CDs and cassettes. The exceptions to date are A Crown of Swords, The Path of Daggers and Winter's Heart. Winter's Heart is available in unabridged format from audible.com, however A Crown of Swords and The Path of Daggers are only available in abridged format read by Mark Rolston.

New Lord Byron poem found in book appears to be a fantasy poem. According to the Guardian Unlimited, The 12-line poem was inscribed in the front of a copy of an 1810 edition of The Pleasures of Memory by Samuel Rogers, which had been given to the poet by the author.

Locus online has an Excerpt from Jon Courtenay Grimwood's Felaheen
published January 2006 by Bantam Spectra for your reading enjoyment

Fantasy Minute for January 3, 2006: Episode 124

LACon IV, the 2006 Worldcon, has announced a special Hugo category for Best Interactive Video Game. This category will allow games, for any platform, to be nominated for a Hugo Award. This award is only to be given in 2006 for games released in 2005. The category implies, but does not make it clear, that a single game is considered the same on multiple platforms.

On January 3^rd Tolkien fans around the world are invited to raise a glass and toast the birthday of this much loved author at 21:00 (9 pm) your local time.

The toast is "The Professor".

For those unfamiliar with British toast-drinking ceremonies: To make the Birthday Toast, you stand, raise a glass of your choice of drink (not necessarily alcoholic), and say the words 'The Professor' before taking a sip (or swig, if that's more appropriate for your drink). Sit and enjoy the rest of your drink.

Here is the entry form.

Jeffrey Ford reads at South Street Seaport Museum, New York City NY, 7 p.m.

Fantasy Minute for January 2, 2006: Episode 123

Some news on today’s show was submitted by listener Rachel: Thanks Rachel:

There is a possible small budget Serenity sequel for Universal-owned Sci Fi Channel. Mostly, this rumor was powered by strong Firefly DVD sales, and hopes for similar success on the Serenity DVD release. Well, over at MovieHole, the rumors are picking up strength. They report that the Serenity DVD sales are doing very well in the states, and that Firefly continues to sell very strong, even overseas.

TV Guide is giving away 5 copies of Serenity for their big DVD giveaway Sweepstakes. Just enter all you personal information for a chance to win.

According to Shawn at terrybrooks.net Terry Brooks has recently begun his initial work on Book Two of the pre-Shannara novel. All edits are now finished on Book One, and it will be published September 2006!

Link to today’s show

Fantasy Minute for January 1, 006: Episode 122

Narnia DVD information from Ultimate Disney: The earliest rumblings of its DVD release pin the big screen adaptation of C.S. Lewis's acclaimed fantasy novel for April, where it is expected to arrive in three different versions: separate but similarly loaded 16x9-enhanced 2.35:1 widescreen and 1.33:1 cropped editions and a more collectible deluxe edition which will carry a list price of $10 or so more than the studio's standard $29.99 tag. More specific details and a firm date likely won't be announced until sometime in the first two months of 2006

Author J.K. Rowling has reportedly donated a signed first edition copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to be auctioned off to help raise funds for Peace Hospice in England. The spokesperson for the charity hospice is quoted in the Watford Observer newspaper as saying "Bids for a first edition Harry Potter currently on Ebay are up to $3,500 so we are hoping we will raise a lot of money for the hospice. JK Rowling contacted us through a third party to donate the book and she said she will be following the auction on Ebay." We will update you with more once the bidding starts next week.

Eileen Gunn has announced today that webzine The Infinite Matrix is ceasing publication, following a last round of posts -- a story by Rudy Rucker, David Langford's last Runcible Ansible, and several others in the next few days.