News of the Week

Sci-Fi Channel hosts "world's first" on-line convention

he Sci-Fi Channel is set to host what is believed to be the world's first online science fiction convention, which will run from Oct. 31 - Nov. 3 on The Dominion Web site. The convention, dubbed SCIFI.CON, will feature all the trappings of a regular con, including panel discussions, author readings, celebrity chats, a costume ball and more.

The con will take advantage of the latest online technologies with offerings such as real-time streaming movie screenings, interactive games and contests, and online chats in both standard IRC format and with the graphical environment of The Palace technology. Guests will include Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee, Roger Corman, Colin Baker, Greg and Tim Hildebrandt, Stan Lee, cast members from MST3K and many other SF celebrities.

Naturally there will be a virtual huckster's room, complete with the ability for online transactions. SCIFI.CON is free to anyone who wishes to attend. More information can be found by visiting The Dominion at http://www.scifi.com/scifi.con/.

Stewart signs on board the Pequod

atrick Stewart will take the helm of a famous ship once again, but this time it will be a genuine ocean-going vessel, and his enemy won't be the pasty white Borg but rather the infamous white whale, Moby Dick. Stewart has signed on to play Captain Ahab in the upcoming four-hour miniseries Moby Dick, which will air on USA Network.

There is no word yet on when the series will run.

Requiem named best novel in British Fantasy Awards

he 1996 British Fantasy Society Awards were presented at Fantasycon XX over the October 4 weekend, with Graham Joyce and Andy Cox heading the list of winners. This year's awards included a special award won by Mike O'Driscoll and Steve Lockley:

Best Novel
Requiem by Graham Joyce

Best Collection/Anthology
Last Rites & Resurrections edited by Andy Cox

Best Short Story
More Tomorrow by Mike Marshall Smith

Best Small Press
The Third Alternative edited by Andy Cox

Best Artist
Josh Kirby

Special Award
Mike O'Driscoll and Steve Lockley for Welcome to My Nightmare

Pro-zine Critical Wave suspends publicaton

fter nine years, 46 issues and an estimated 4 million words in print, Critical Wave, one of the most respected sources of science fiction and fantasy information in the United Kingdom, will cease publication. Co-publishers and editors Steve Green and Martin Tudor cited problems with a photocopier rental company which served them with a backdated demand for payment against several years of miscalculated invoices.

The pair reluctantly called a halt to the pro-zine, which was host to writers such as Michael Moorcock, Brian Aldiss and David Langford. The publishers are planning a final, farewell issue and they may create an Internet archive of key features and information from past issues.

Critical Wave was launched in 1987, when it began life as a giveaway in the style of Langford's long running news-sheet Ansible, which had itself announced its own demise (hiatus as it happened) that year. Though generally known as "The European SF and Fantasy Review," Critical Wave was much more than a journal of review, offering retrospective features and analysis across a broad spectrum of subjects including film, television and, in recent issues, Japanese animation.

-- John Gosling, U.K. Correspondent

Lawless recovering after being thrown from horse

ucy Lawless, the star of the syndicated hit show Xena: Warrior Princess, was in stable condition last week following an accident earlier this month. Lawless was practicing a skit for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno when she fell from her horse, reportedly fracturing her pelvis.

The Xena series is currently on hiatus with 10 shows already filmed and ready to air, so the accident will not impact production. Lawless is said to be well on the way to recovery and in good spirits. Wellwishers can send Lawless an electronic get well card by visiting http://www.mca.com/tv/xena/xenacard/.

British SF invasion planned

hough his agents have refused to substantiate a story which appeared in a British tabloid newspaper earlier this month, it seems that former U.K. soap star Leslie Grantham has successfully pitched an idea for a new science fiction television series to independent production company Zenith. Slightly less reticently, Zenith confirmed the existence of plans for a series to be provisionally entitled Who Are You?

The series will feature a conspiracy-style storyline about an invasion of Britain by aliens who can take over human bodies. Lavish special effects are promised in this $7.5 million production, which will begin shooting the first of four episodes next spring for a late 1997 primetime broadcast on the Independent Television Network.

Recent reports appearing in the British SF press also bring word of two other alien invasion shows. The six-part Invasion Earth is now in development for the BBC and Project Blue is at Carlton, one of the regional television stations that together comprise the ITV Network.

-- John Gosling, U.K. Correspondent

Earthsea radio adaptation planned for Christmas

two hour dramatization of Ursula K. Le Guin's first Earthsea novel, A Wizard of Earthsea has been produced for the British national broadcaster Radio Four. Transmission is penciled in for Dec. 26 at 2 p.m., with a commercial release on audio cassette to follow.

The adaptation is by Bert Coules, whose past credits include an excellent BBC radio adaptation of Isaac Asimov's The Caves of Steel. Speaking to Science Fiction Weekly, Coules was enthusiastic about the recording, which has been successfully completed and is presently in post production, where an extensive musical score and sound effects are to be added.

Le Guin saw a copy of the script prior to recording and apparently made very few suggestions or criticisms. Among cast details announced so far are Michael Maloney as Ged the Shadow and Emma Fielding as Serret, with narration by Dame Judy Dench. If successful, further adaptations of Le Guin novels may follow.

-- John Gosling, U.K. Correspondent

Retro-Hugos nixed for 1997

oneStarCon 2, the 55th World Science Fiction Convention, will not host Retrospective Hugo Awards in 1997. The Retro-Hugos are Hugo Awards that can, at a hosting Worldcon's option, be given for a year prior to 1953, when the Hugo Awards did not exist.

Further information is available from lsc2@io.com.

Event Horizon snags impressive lead

ho could turn down a serious Francis Ford Coppola movie in favor of a science fiction film? The answer may surprise you: Laurence Fishburne. Fishburne reportedly opted to star in the upcoming science fiction movie Event Horizon rather than play a judge in Coppola's adaptation of The Rainmaker.

In Event Horizon Fishburne will portray Captain Miller, who heads an exploration team sent to salvage a long-missing spaceship which appears just off Neptune. Paul Anderson of Mortal Kombat fame will direct the movie, while Sam Neill and Amy Brenneman are reportedly set to sign on as Fishburne's co-stars.

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