Canadian SF channel
set to debut in September
he new Canadian SF cable channel Space: The Imagination Station has already landed a stellar line-up of reruns for its scheduled debut on Sept. 26. Space will launch in an estimated 2 million homes with series like Star Trek, The X-Files, Dr. Who, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Lost in Space and many others.
Isme Bennie, the channel's director of programming and acquisitions, said Space will be a 24-hour channel that will reach approximately 83 percent of the Canadian cable market. She added that Space will be adding original programming as it matures, and that it will focus on science fiction and fantasy but not horror. Space will also have science programming and fact-based shows along the lines of Sightings.
-- Craig E. Engler, Editor
UUNET problems disrupt rec.arts.sf.announce
he popular Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.sf.announce was shut down earlier this month when a "Usenet Death Penalty" was levied against the Internet provider UUNET. Since rec.arts.sf.announce is moderated from a UUNET account, the group was "effectively defunct" according to its moderator, Scott Hazen Mueller.
The problem arose when a self-appointed coalition of de-spammers launched the death penalty against UUNET to curtail what they called "excessively high spam volumes" originating from the provider's news servers. The death penalty--carried out by Usenet "cancelbots"--canceled all articles from the servers, even those of spam-free moderated groups such as rec.arts.sf.announce.
Although the death penalty was soon lifted after the amount of spam from UUNET servers decreased, Mueller said as of Aug. 5 rec.arts.sf.announce was still down because UUNET had canceled his guest account for unrelated reasons. "In the meantime, some postings are being approved by my moderation bot, though what happens to them afterward is anybody's guess," Mueller said.
Mueller has been the moderator of rec.arts.sf.announce since the group was created in the early '90s, and he said he was locked out of his UUNET account several years ago during a minor security incident, but this "appears to be permanent." He said he was working to find away around the problem and hoped to have the popular SF announcement newsgroup back up soon.
-- C.E.E.
Stargate provides another SF success for Showtime
lthough fans have had mixed reactions to Showtime's new SF series Stargate SG1, the general viewing audience has embraced the show wholeheartedly. The pilot movie for the series--which is based on the popular Stargate movie--drew an estimated 1.48 million households in the Neilsen ratings, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
While Showtime would not confirm or deny the figures, the Reporter said sources claimed Stargate was the cable channel's highest-rated program of 1997.
-- C.E.E.
David Weber asks fans
to "be patient"
uthor David Weber has posted a public note to the Internet in response to the many messages he has received about the end of his latest Honor Harrington novel, In Enemy Hands. Apparently the ending, which leaves a host of unresolved plot threads, has sparked some playful ill-will from his fans.
"When I started on the novel, I really intended to get Honor into trouble
and then get her back out again in a single book," Weber wrote. "Unfortunately, I'd underestimated the size of the story I had set out to tell."
In his note Weber asked fans to be patient and promised he would write a sequel to In Enemy Hands as fast as he could. Meanwhile, his publisher Baen Books has posted the full text of Weber's note, along with background about both Weber and the Honor Harrington series, on its Web site at http://www.baen.com.
-- C.E.E.
Readers can e-mail William Gibson
(although he may not write back)
rinters Inc. Bookstore is offering William Gibson fans a chance to talk to the man himself, at least via e-mail, although everything is contingent on whether Gibson actually wants to reply or not. Gibson, the father of cyberpunk, is currently on a promotional tour for the paperback release of his latest book Idoru. He has agreed to look over e-mail submitted to the store and "reply to whatever he replies to."
It's something of an unprecedented opportunity for fans, since Gibson is a bit of a Luddite (rumor has it that he doesn't even have a personal e-mail address). Of course, fans in California can skip the electronic rigmarole and show up for Gibson's public signing, which will be held at the store's Palo Alto location on Aug. 20.
For more information on both events, visit the Printers Inc. Web site at http://www.pibooks.com.
-- C.E.E.
Men in Black dominates foreign screens
lthough the furor over Men in Black has largely passed in the United States (at least until the sequel arrives), overseas the movie is shattering records, trouncing dinosaurs and making Steven Spielberg the Bill Gates of the movie industry. Last month MiB broke a 12-year-old box office record in France when it sold 357,400 tickets on its opening day, while in the United Kingdom it set a new opening record with an $11.9 million haul, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The movie also set records in Mexico, Hong Kong, Singapore, Finland and Uruguay, bringing in nearly $50 million in foreign receipts. Although Men in Black will likely pass The Lost World as the year's high grosser, Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment is laughing all the way to the bank--Amblin was involved in both pictures, making it the first company to ever have two $200 million films in the same year.
-- C.E.E.
Kilmer may join Keanu in Matrix
al Kilmer is reportedly interested in signing on for Matrix, an SF action adventure which already counts Keanu Reeves among its cast members. The movie is about a man who leads a revolt in a future society where computers enslave humanity.
-- C.E.E.
SF in China: Conference calls for improving the art form
t a world conference on science fiction held in Beijing last month, SF activists called for a change in domestic Chinese SF writing after years of oppression, according to a Reuters report. "The development of our nation will depend on scientific education, and science fiction is one method of carrying this out," Reuters quoted Zhou Guangzhao, chairman of the China Science and Technology Association, as saying.
For years SF had been virtually stifled in the country by Communist rulers who declared it "politically, socially and culturally dangerous," Reuters reported. But in the past decade SF in China has seen a resurgence as, slowly but surely, political controls have been relaxed.
China is now considered fertile ground for SF, and the country already boasts one of the largest SF magazines in existence with Science Fiction World, which has a circulation of close to 250,000.
-- C.E.E.
1997 TAFF race underway,
nominations sought for 1998
F fans Victor Gonzalez, Ulrika O'Brien, Vicki Rosenzweig and Tom Sadler will compete in the 1997 Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund Race, which has just been officially launched. The winner of the race will attend the 1998 National British Convention, which is scheduled to be held in Manchester, U.K., from April 10-13.
TAFF is a fan organization that provides funds "to bring well-known and popular fans familiar to those on both sides of the ocean across the Atlantic." Anyone who has been active in fandom prior to September 1995, and who contributes at least $2 to the fan fund, may vote. Votes must reach the TAFF administrators by midnight, Dec. 13.
European Administrator Martin Tudor can be reached at: 24 Ravensbourne Grove, Willenhall, West Midlands, WV13 1HX, England, or by e-mail at taffman@empties.demon.co.uk. North American Administrator Dan Steffan can be reached at: 3804 S. 9th Street, Arlington, VA 22204, USA.
Nominations are also open for the 1998 Europe to North America TAFF Race. For more information on TAFF or to obtain ballot forms, visit http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/SF-Archives/Taff/.
-- C.E.E.
Briefly Noted
- Alien Resurrection rocks, according to lucky fans who have allegedly seen test screenings of the upcoming Fox movie. In fact, reports on the Internet say Resurrection is so good that it more than makes up for Aliens3, which was a dismal failure at the box office and is considered a travesty by the Aliens faithful.
- The cable channel FX will begin airing reruns of The X-Files later this month, starting with the pilot episode, which will be broadcast Tuesday,
Aug. 19, at 8 p.m. ET.
- Peter David and Bill Mumy will reportedly co-write an episode for the fifth season of Babylon 5, according to published reports. Mumy is a regular B5 cast member and David is a popular comic book writer and creator of the Nickelodeon series Space Cases.
- Warner Bros. reportedly paid Pretty Woman writer Jonathan Lawton $825,000 for a story based on the novel Monster Men by Edgar Rice Burroughs, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The story is said to be about a scientist who is seeking to create the perfect monster.
- Cast members of NBC's hit SF sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun have reportedly re-negotiated their salaries following a juicy syndication deal for the show. No paychecks were disclosed, but with reruns of the show garnering $3 million apiece, it's likely all concerned are happy.
- Sovereign Media, the publisher of SF Age, Sci-Fi Entertainment and Realms of Fantasy, has acquired Sci-Fi Universe Magazine from LFP Inc. Sovereign will reportedly relaunch the magazine beginning with the November issue (available in September), which will sport an all-new look. The magazine's schedule has also been cut from nine to six issues per year.
- Artemis Magazine is not dead, according to a recent announcement from its editor Ian Randall Strock, it just hasn't raised the money to begin publishing yet. The announcement, which Strock posted on Usenet, came in response to several public queries about the health of the magazine.
- Carrie Fisher has just signed a two-year, $3 million deal to develop comedies for Universal Television, according to Mr. Showbiz. Although Fisher leapt into the limelight with her portrayal of Princess Leia in the Star Wars films, she has since gone on to become a highly-sought after (and highly paid) script doctor for Hollywood, in addition to her writing and acting careers.
