An Overview of International Science Fiction/Fantasy in 2009

Compiled by Jeff VanderMeer at Locus Magazine

Although my year’s best selections included some international fiction, I thought it would be of use to compile a few “core samples” of work mostly in other languages that my contacts found of particular interest in 2009. Except for the books from places like Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines, these titles are not yet available in English. It’s worth noting, too, that the term “International Fiction” or “World SF” requires further specificity of detail, in the sense that some countries have a stronger tradition of supporting non-realistic fiction than others.

Australia, recommended by writer Deborah Biancotti and editor Alisa Krasnostein

Slice of Life, Paul Haines, pub. The Mayne Press: The cover says it all: a man digging into his own side with a knife. If you’ve never read Haines before, then brace yourself. This book features 17 stories “from the decaying mind” (to quote the blurb) of one of the country’s creepiest writers. All proceeds go to Haines’ cancer fund.

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A nod to coming-of-age novels

Kay Austen at Squamish Chief

On the recommendation of one of the library’s front desk staff, I recently read The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak, a young Jewish-Australian writer.

This is a brilliant new novel from the young people’s collection in our library. The Y.P. collection, meant for our 14 to 21 year old patrons, is a veritable goldmine of wonderful classics: coming of age stories, science fiction, fantasy, edgy drugs, sex and rock and roll pieces, war stories, romances, adventure, mysteries, and of course, disguised adult advice.

Many of us who have left our adolescence can remember books that affected us in profound ways. They spoke directly to the circumstances we found ourselves in during those rocky times or they spoke with a voice to which we could relate.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Kidnapped threw us into fantastic rollicking adventures. Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series (from which the film The Golden Compass came) and Madeleine L’Engle’s Wrinkle in Time series both take the fantasy road – they discuss developing identity, relating to others and becoming a part of a society.

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The 16 Best Dystopian Books Of All Time

by Tom at Pop Crunch

Dystopian novels—stories of the horrific future—are so common as to be almost forgettable. Here is a compilation of what I believe are the 16 greatest of the genre. I could happily list twice as many that are amazing, but these are the best. From the post-apocalyptic wasteland to deadly viruses to social malaise, all possible bad futures end here.

15. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood: Despite her protestations of not writing science fiction, [Atwood's] story of a dystopian future where almost all women are infertile is most assuredly of the genre. Set in a future where disease and radiation have reduced fertility to a minimum, and a fascist military theocracy has taken over America (or at least part of it). Brutal in its critique of evangelist Christianity and their view on women, Handmaid’s Tale is a harrowing read at the best of times. In it, women have essentially been reduced to chattels, and the few fertile ones assigned to high-ranking military men in order to give them children.

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Peter Straub’s A Dark Matter—a literate horror story

Mark Graham at Tor

Since the 1970s Peter Straub has been known as the “literate” horror writer, kind of a modern-day Henry James.  Stephen King, Straub’s sometimes collaborator (The Talisman and Black House), has compared himself to a burger and fries.  Using the same type of allusion, we might refer to Straub as filet mignon and a baked potato with chives.  Maybe the combination of the authors’ styles is what makes their two novels so successful and deliciously frightening. King goes for your jugular; Straub goes for your brain.

Straub’s 16th solo novel reinforces his reputation, but it is also, at times, more visceral in description than most of the author’s recent works.  However, between the few scenes of a college student being torn limb from limb by a disgusting-smelling demon, rather than scream-in-the-night scary, A Dark Matter is pit-of-the-stomach disturbing, a novel that readers will carry with them like a gladstone loaded with bricks.

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Children’s author came to write dark fantasy by ‘crazy career path’

By Jody Seaborn at The Statesman

Carolyn Cohagan didn’t write a children’s book on purpose. Her debut, “The Lost Children,” published last month by Aladdin, came about because of a failed screenplay.

“The Lost Children” is an adventure fantasy about a 12-year-old girl who falls into another world where orphans mysteriously vanish, a couple of bizarre monsters prowl and an evil ruler reigns. Readers will recognize darkly comedic touches straight out of Roald Dahl here and there, and well-crafted surprises heighten the story of loss and reunion.

For decades, writers, parents and librarians have been debating what’s appropriate reading for particular ages — what’s too scary, what reads too old. Though it’s sensitively handled, there are a couple of moments of fleeting violence in “The Lost Children” and an atmosphere of grief and loneliness throughout most of the book. So Cohagan knew that some parents might find her book too dark for its intended audience — ages 8-12.

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I love seeing Sci Fi from other countries; there are different reading trends everywhere, so it’s interesting to see. Although that cover is disturbing. And A Wrinkle in Time was one of my favorite books when I was a teenager (I still think it’s awesome).  It was my first experience with Sci Fi. I’ve mentioned that I love dystopian novels before, and I’ve read (or am reading) over half the books on that list. So I’m glad they’re good choices.

Did (or do) you read sci fi or fantasy as a teenager? What got you interested in the genre?

WHAT WORKS, WHAT SUCKS AND WHAT’S COMING FOR 11 HORROR REMAKES!

Source : scifiwire.com

According to Hollywood’s logic, anything worth doing is worth doing over again—especially if people remember you did it the first time.

Sequels notwithstanding, the studios are churning out one remake, reboot or “re-imagining” after another of familiar and not-so-familiar horror movies and franchises, the latest of which is The Crazies, Breck Eisner’s update of the 1973 George Romero movie of the same name.

While the jury’s still out on A Nightmare on Elm Street—which probably qualifies as the Holy Grail of horror remakes—SCI FI Wire decided to take a closer look at some of the other classic horror films that will return to the screen in the not-so-distant future and why the originals deserve to stand on their own.

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VIDEO GAME INCURSION INTO HOLLYWOOD COULD CONTINUE WITH SPACE INVADERS

Source: LA Times

With a movie version of Missile Command essentially set up at Fox and an adaptation of Asteroids in development at Universal, it was only a matter of time before a studio decided to take on the grandfather of all video games, Space Invaders.

And now it looks like one could.

Warner Bros. is negotiating to acquire feature rights to the landmark shooter from Taito, the Japanese company that originally manufactured the game. If the rights issues all work out, the project would bring on Hollywood fixtures Mark Gordon, Jason Blum and Guymon Casady as producers.

Gordon is a film veteran with experience at the big-budget art house (“Saving Private Ryan”) as well as the big-budget commercial (“The Day After Tomorrow”). Blum is best known for producing horror breakout “Paranormal Activity,” while Casady is a manager-producer with a slew of high-profile clients.

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JAMES CAMERON IS LOOKING FOR A FANTASTIC DIRECTOR

Source : Latino Review

James Cameron has finished his script for a remake of the classic science fiction fantasy film Fantastic Voyage.

I haven’t seen the original Fantastic Voyage since I was a kid so I have no idea what could be done for the remake. I’ll have to revisit it. ScifiWire has more on the story:

James Cameron said that the script for his proposed remake of the classic 1960s medical sci-fi movie Fantastic Voyage is done and he is now looking for someone to direct.

“Fantastic Voyage, we’re looking for a director,” Cameron said in a group interview Sunday in Century City, Calif., at the Visual Effects Society Awards. “Haven’t set one yet.” (Writers who have had a hand in drafting the script include Shane Salerno and Cormac and Marianne Wibberley.)

READ MORE HERE

SAM WORTHINGTON , NEW FACE OF SCIFI/FANTASY FILM: WITH TERMINATOR, AVATAR, AND  CLASH OF THE TITANS, A NEW STAR RISES

Source: scififantasyfilms.suite101.com

There’s no doubt Sam Worthington is one of Hollywood’s hottest stars. With Clash of the Titans to be released April 2, 2010, those who still don’t know him soon will.

OBS ARCANA 3-PANEL HORROR COMIC CONTEST

In honor of our Comic Book Review on Arcana Comic’s ‘Dark Horrors Anthology’, OpenBookSociety is holding a 3-Panel Horror Comic contest starting today, February 25 through March 25, 2010.

Deadline for submissions is March 25 and the winners will be announced on April 1, 2010.

So what exactly do you have to do you ask, well here are the details:

Use your creative writing and drawing talents and put together a 3-panel comic. All entries must include, 3-panels, the genre must be horror (this includes sub genres such as supernatural, aliens, etc. all with a horror theme) and at least one panel must include dialogue. Two stipulations include: No nudity or profanity please. So essentially your creating a story in just 3 panels. It’s not as hard as it seems, comic strip artists do it all the time.

Submissions will be posted as we receive them, on the OBS Forum. When the submission deadline closes, on March 25th, members and OBS staff will vote for the two top comics, with a first place winner and a runner up. Show us your best stuff! We will be judging each based on creativity, art, and story line. We will be Tweeting updates on new submissions throughout the month of March so you will know when new submissions have been posted.

THE PRIZES:

1st place: Arcana Comics ‘Dark Horror Anthology’ Comic Book

2nd place: 3 Sets of Marvel Trading Cards, (1) Spiderman, and (2) Fantastic Four, for a total of 21 Trading Cards.

If that isn’t incentive enough… OBS will submit the two winning comics to Arcana Comics (Canada’s largest comic book publisher)!!!!

Go to their website and check them out. So do your best to get noticed and stand out from the crowd with a creative comic!

Please submit your 3-panel horror comic to news@openbooksociety.com. If you have any questions please email Rose at whatategilbertgrape (at) openbooksociety (dot) com. Can’t wait to see your submissions!!

One of the creepiest movies i’ve seen in a long time, The Descent is a great psychological thriller/horror. The darkness and claustrophobia really gets to you, even if you aren’t phobic. Let’s see what our OBS staffer has to say.

Brought to you by OBS staff member Rose

Name: The Descent
Rated: R
Running Time: 100 minutes

Director: Neil Marshall

Synopsis
When a young woman, Sarah (played by Shauna MacDonald), loses her husband and her daughter in a horrible car crash, she agrees to take an annual adventure-seeking caving expedition with 5 other friends to break out of her sorrow. Juno (Natalie Jackson Mendoza) is the thrill junkie among them, along with her new protégé’ and newbie to the group, Holly and leads the girls into what they think is the Borum Caverns, a Level 2 difficulty, mediocre and a known touristy cavern. Little do the rest know that Ms. I-Take-Too-Many-Risks has led them into uncharted territories.

Review
When The Descent was released it was the scariest movie to come out in a long time. This is probably due to the plausibility of the horror story. It is utterly frightening to the core. The beginning of the film with its two-minute back-story is filled with foreshadowing, if you pay attention. The naming of the movie was genius, as it pertains not only to the women’s descent into the foreboding caves, but a descent into hell of their minds and of their morals and humanity.

Descent’s story takes time to bake, it refuses to be rushed. We are not thrust into a gore fest in the first ten minutes that is why is works so well. The claustrophobia, tension and anxiety lead for much of the way. The back-story of certain characters surfaces again much later whilst their being chased and preyed upon by deadly vicious creatures. This lends a twist and a deep fissure between two of the friends, which is played out in the climax as they fight for their lives. Personally I think all the actresses did a great job, no stereo-typical screamers here.

If you haven’t seen it yet, run to your nearest video store, grab a friend, and turn off all the lights. This is a must see A+ horror film.

Rating: 10/10 stars

Brought to you by OBS staff member Rose

Name: Dead Snow (Død snø)
Rated: R
Running Time: 90 minutes

Director: Tommy Wirkola

Synopsis
When eight students head into the mountains for Easter break at an isolated cabin in the woods, a strange man proceeds to tell them the horrible tale of a Nazi group, who during World War II, were notorious for causing murder, mayhem and dabbling in stealing treasures not too far from their current location. They laugh at the man and brush off his crazy story as folklore fiction, until one of them disappears and zombies infiltrate the cabin.

Review
Dead Snow, a Norwegian export, starts out like any other ordinary horror movie. Scenes of joyous friends laughing at one another and bickering, playful shots of them frolicking together in outdoor activities, the gratuitous sex scene, let’s all sit around telling stories and oooh-I-found-something-secretly-hidden-inside-the-house-let’s-see-what-it-is moment.

Then of course the mayhem starts when the zombies find the lot at the cabin. What made these characters different than most in horror films, they at least tried to kick ass. Some went to great lengths to assure their endurance; like sewing their own neck shut or killing crows that wouldn’t shut up.

The zombie make-up is pretty effective and authentic. The zombies don’t jerk and jiggle too much; they know how to walk and are intelligently organized. One doesn’t even know if they are contagious because people do get bitten but it’s never explored. It is not necessary to the storyline, it’s all about ‘the hunt’ and intestines. Intestines play a recurring role in Dead Snow. I am not sure if it was intentional with some greater hidden meaning or the special effects department simply had an affinity for entrails. One will never know.

The ending is par for the course with movies in this genre. It can only go one way or another, so no there is no dramatic twist of a finale, sorry. Blood spattering gore, unique survival techniques and a believable cast make this movie very entertaining.

Rating: 8/10 stars

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Shutter Island: A Thriller Out Of Time?
by Damon Wise at Empire Online

It’s been interesting watching the reactions to Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island, from the trailer alone. People seem to forget that artists have a fractious relationship with their times, that sometimes their work arrives out of synch with public taste, and that sometimes their art takes chances that even their most loyal followers won’t accept. The irony, of course, is that nobody knows this better than Scorsese, who has conducted a personal journey through the film cultures of three very cine-literate countries (Italy and the US, with Britain on its way) and directed a milestone documentary (No Direction Home) about the musician, poet and electric folklorist Bob Dylan, himself no stranger to controversy and public questioning. Along the way, the song remains the same; sometimes a contemporary audience isn’t always sitting in the right seats to judge.

Well, the arguments over Shutter Island appear to be raging over Scorsese’s decision to embrace high melodrama: thrashing winds; crashing waves; thundering rain; a detective dressed like a tsunami-drenched Dana Andrews; an insane asylum right out of Dickens; a score with more threat and bombast than Bernard Herrmann’s original theme for Cape Fear…

Read More here.

Here’s Why Most Werewolf Movies Suck
by Scott Weinberg at Horror Squad

Werewolf of London (1935), The Wolf Man (1941), Curse of the Werewolf (1961). An American Werewolf in London, The Howling, and Wolfen all showed up in 1981. Later we got Ginger Snaps and Dog Soldiers. I’ve skipped over stuff like Silver Bullet, Bad Moon, and Underworld because even if you think they’re half-decent werewolf movies — you probably don’t think they’re fantastic werewolf movies. Hell, I only included the very dry Wolfen up top because it’s weird that three werewolf movies came out in 1981!

Clearly my assertion is that there aren’t really all that many GOOD werewolf movies. I will now take that assertion and stretch it like so much bubble gum … and there: I now have a specious piece of logic that says MOST werewolf movies are crap. (Wolf? Blood and Chocolate? I Was a Teenage Werewolf? Cursed? Don’t make me laugh. And the name of that witless “Paris” sequel will go unmentioned on this website.) Actually that’s not entirely accurate either because, really, we don’t really GET all that many werewolf movies these days. And I think I know why…

Read More here.

Will We See The Riddler, Robin And More In Dark Knight Sequel?
by Graeme McMillan at io9

Now that we know that Christopher Nolan’s third Batman movie is getting underway, rumors about the choice of villain and plot are beginning to trickle online. Surprisingly, they don’t seem entirely impossible…

According to an anonymous source to ComicBookMovie.com, the third movie will feature not only the Riddler as the main villain – figuring out Batman’s secret identity, in a move swiped from the comics – but also cameos from other villains within Arkham Asylum, as well as appearances by Barbara Gordon and Dick Grayson and mentions of Lex Luthor and Metropolis, setting up a cross-continuity with any future Superman movie.

Ignoring the fact that Barbara Gordon would be too young to be Batgirl in the movie continuity, all of this seems potentially legit, especially considering that The Dark Knight featured villain cameos, Nolan is overseeing a Superman movie reboot and the non-powered-but-mentally-troubled Riddler seems a particularly strong choice for villain.

Read More here.

Penelope Cruz eyes ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ sequel
by Borys Kit at Heat Vision Blog

Penelope Cruz is in negotiations to join Johnny Depp and sail the seven seas in “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” the fourth installment of the movie series being directed by Rob Marshall.

Depp is reprising his popular role of Captain Jack Sparrow, and while plot details are buried deeper than Blackbeard’s treasure, it is known the tale revolves around the Fountain of Youth.

Cruz’s character details are also being kept secret, though she is to be Sparrow’s foil and equal in many ways.

Read More here.

If I liked horror movies, I’d go see Shutter Island, the plot actually sounds good. I just don’t like being scared. And I think the Riddler would be a better choice than Catwoman for the next Batman movie, but the way the characters are adapted for Nolan’s version anyone might work.

What do you think about the new Batman villain ideas? Are you looking forward to the new Pirates movie?