• City in the sky is a concept about a tranquil oasis above the mega developed and polluted city where one can escape from the everyday buzz, smog and dirt. The concept is inspired by the Lotus flower which is known for its ability to emerge above the murky waters pure and clean.
• Pushpin Mario is an 8-bit re-creation of Super Mario Bros

Comics

• Interview: Chip Kidd offers us a sneak peek of the new Batman graphic novel
• Peter Parker’s Penance, an essay on the psyche of everyone’s favorite superhero, Spider-Man, from the new Webslinger collection.

Cross-Media

• Interview: Nathan Fillion talks about Serenity, Firefly, and Joss.
• Comic Book Resources counts down The top ten cruelest thing Joss Whedon has done to his characters, starting with the finale of Angel.

Film

• Interview: Andrew Garfield talks about The Avengers: “Joss Whedon is a genius, and it’s an incredible cast. I was very, very jealous, and I wanted to jump on the screen and play with them. It killed me that I wasn’t in it, but I understand why, and I’m not insulted.”
• Interview: Ridley Scott talks Prometheus with Geoff Boucher
• 5 Weird Places Marvel Movies Won’t Dare Go
• Abandoned subway station turned into epic marketing stunt for Prometheus
• The Avengers defeated irony and cynicism: A great piece from BAD’s Devin Faraci, who argues that the tremendous success of The Avengers can be attributed to the optimism and old-fashioned heroism on display.
• ‘The Avengers’ makes Marvel a “good deal” for Disney, not a great one.
• How to Enjoy Going to the Movies Again
• The teaser trailer for the twenty-third James Bond feature, Skyfall has arrived. Temporarily derailed because of MGM’s bankruptcy, the movie will hit screens in November, just under the wire for the fiftieth anniversary of the Bond franchise on screen.

Literature

• Interview: A.J. Dalton of Empire of the Saviours chats with the Gollancz blog
• Interview: Neil Gaiman speaks with Buzzy Mag at the 2012 Nebula Awards.
• Interview: The New York Times profiles Philip K. Dick, Sci-Fi Philosopher
• Interview: Red Reviewer speaks with Sarah Zettel of Fool’s War and Bitter Angels
• Interview: SFSignal talks to Campbell nominee Brad R. Torgersen of Ray of Light
• 8 Things You Might Not Know About the New York Times Bestseller List
• “I want to know how I am a small press, if I am outselling Robin Hobb and Terry Goodkind and Tolkien?” Fantasy author M.R. Mathias has a disagreement with Fantasy-Faction.com.
• In “Why is Science Fiction Dying?,” Graham Storrs opines that “half … of what is being sold as sci-fi is actually fantasy with some sci-fi elements,” a complaint with which I tend to agree with, but Ian Sales take exception in “Science fiction is dead, long live science fiction.” Both make good points.
• Should College Students Be Forced to Buy Digital Textbooks?

Science

• Interview: Theoretical Physicist Brian Greene Thinks You Might Be a Hologram
• Avatar inspires scientists to plan brain transplants
• Is the Earth a Sentient Living Organism? New Study May Provide the Proof
• Why Can’t We See Evidence of Alien Life? Why do we seem to be alone in the universe? An animated look at the Fermi Paradox.

Technology

• Aging Japan evokes science fiction future
• How will we build an artificial human brain?

Television

• News: Australia is the top Game of Thrones Pirating Nation
• The Watercooler Is in the Cloud: Matt Zoller Seitz on the Shifting Boundaries of TV

Video Games

• 16-bit Time Capsule: SNES Emulator Makes a Case for Software Preservation. Similarly, check out developer Byuu’s 2011 piece on the matter at ars technica.

Writing

• Cassie Alexander, author of Nightshifted, shares with aspiring authors The Highs and the Lows of Becoming an Author

Want more? Check out Geek Art Gallery for more art links and eye candy. Visit Oneironomicon for more on book trailers, reviews,and writing links.

• Adam Savage tells the story of his Zorg Industries ZF-1 replica from The Fifth Element, which he’s been working on for over 13 years.
• Brit Lit Map
• Game of Thrones Cosplay cosplay

Comics

• Interview: USA Today has an interview with Richelle Mead, author of the Dark Swan comic series. ComicBooked chats with her, too, in their latest podcast.
• China Miéville’s “rejected pitch” for Scrap Iron Man, a comic book hero-by-committee dedicated to taking down Iron Man, the beacon of capitalist selfishness.

Film

• Copernicus On The Science Of THE AVENGERS (Part 2)
• Getting in on the secret of Pixar’s ‘hidden’ speakeasy: A Pixar animator opened a small access door in his office, got on his hands and knees, and crawled through the opening to discover a “secret” room. The rest, as they say, is history.
• Set construction photos from The Avengers and more.
• The Two Ways Science Fiction Is Slowly Destroying Itself

Internet

• News: .pirate Domain Created

Literature

• Interview: David Brin on Existence and the transformative power of science fiction
• Interview: The Qwillery interviews Jeff Salyards, author of Scourge of the Betrayer.
• Interview: The Qwillery interviews Trent Jamieson, author of Night’s Engines
• 30 Pieces Of Wisdom From Stephen King Novels

Science

• 10 Sci-Fi Faster-Than-Light Systems
• Science Fiction Barely Ahead of Space Reality

Television

• The 7 Most Intriguing TV Shows Coming This Fall
• The best and worst episodes of Torchwood according to Topless Robot.

Writing

• 20 Famous Rejection Letters We Can All Learn From
• So what the hell is Urban Fantasy, anyway?

Want more? Check out Geek Art Gallery for more art links and eye candy. Visit Oneironomicon for more on book trailers, reviews,and writing links.

With Marvel’s new Avenger’s movie out, audiences are going blockbuster movie crazy, what with the dazzling shots and expensive special fx. For most no-budget independent moviemakers it would be an expensive feat to duplicate, but for Patrick A. Prejusa all he needs is a camera, a computer, some orange juice bottles, and a roll of duct tape.

Patrick is making his own blockbuster movie called REDD, an ambitious sci-fi / action / adventure project featuring what looks like expensive special fx. REDD uses no-budget tricks like building monsters out of cardboard and duct tape, space ships from orange juice bottles and coffee cans, and various other tricks to produce cinematic quality fx.

No stranger to no-budget filmmaking, Patrick was responsible for the 2006 movie Monster Cops: The Midnight Special, a film that B-Independent said was “An absolute blast!” and HorrorTalk spouted was “Laugh out loud funny!”. It was there he learned how to think outside the box and create affordable effects pieces on a shoestring budget. In addition to the movie, he has put numerous webisodes online and has produced ads and viral videos for some big name brands.

While the ultimate goal is to finish REDD, another goal is to raise money for various cancer charities. Patrick’s mother-in-law passed away from cancer in 2006. His mother is a cancer survivor. So combining the want to do something good with his passion for moviemaking only made sense, so a portion of every DVD sold will go to the American Cancer Society as well as other cancer charities that need support.

REDD is currently running a Kickstarter campaign and looks to finish filming in time for screenings this Fall.

• 10 High-Risk Sci-Fi/Fantasy Careers

Cross-Media

• 10 Coolest Fictional Asteroids of All Time

Film

• Interview: The BBC meets the cast of Snow White and the Huntsman and learned how they were shrunk to fit the part.
• Interview: Damon Lindelof Talks LOST Homages, 3D, and Hints at Further Sequels During PROMETHEUS Twitter Q&A
• Interview: Idris Elba Confirms He’s Returning for THOR 2
• Interview: Joss Whedon talks Avengers sequel
• News: ‘The Avengers’ is officially the 9th biggest film of all time globally, passing ‘Alice In Wonderland’ and ‘Star Wars Episode 1′
• News: Robert Downey Jr. ‘Avengers’ pay set to hit $50 Million.
• The Avengers trailer as a Lego remake
• io9 picks the 10 Best Time Travel Movies of All Timelines
• Why the Avengers is the best TV show in movie theaters: The AV Club’s Todd VanDerWerff examines what t.v. lessons Joss carried into the film world.

Internet

• Interview: Each morning at 9am for the next two weeks, (Mefi’s Own) scifi and fantasy author John Scalzi will be chatting with musician Jonathan Coulton about one of his science fiction songs — a different song each morning, — in a daily podcast over at Tor.com called Journey to Planet JoCo. Series index. On May 29th, they’ll be premiering a brand new, previously unheard Coulton song.
• There’s a kickstarter running for a Steampunk RPG called The Terah Project: Steampunk for Pathfinder. If you’ve ever wanted to play a Girl Genius-style Spark, this is the game you’ve been waiting for.

Literature

• Interview: Dalal al-Mutairi, the senior book censor for the Kuwaiti government, sits down for a chat about her job and what it entails.
• Interview: Geek and Sundry interview Lev Grossman of The Magician King
• Interview: Helen Lowe answers questions on Reddit
• Interview: The Terrible Mind of Chuck Wendig, author of Blackbirds
• News: Scholars study literary merits of Harry Potter novels
• News: True Blood author can suck no more out of vampire series: Charlaine Harris has announced that the final novel in her Southern Vampire Mysteries series will be published next year. Novelist Charlaine Harris made the announcement on Facebook: “the final Sookie Stackhouse book, Dead Ever After, will be on sale May 2, 2013!” In less than an hour, the post generated more than two thousand “likes” and three hundred comments.
• The 50 SF Books You Must Read, according to Forbidden Planet
• The Book Depository, the UK’s largest online bookseller, which is owned by Amazon, has created a mesmerizing live map that apparently tells viewers when a book is purchased through their system. [Via]
• The Evolution, Development, and the Magic of Harry Potter
• A Grade 11 student, with a summary of Sean Dixon’s novel The Last Days of the Lacuna Cabal due in two days, gets help from the author. It does not go well.
• How Fast Do You Read? Compare yourself with national averages. Compare yourself with Anne Jones, a Champion Speed Reader who consumed the last Harry Potter book in 47 minutes, about 1 page every 3.75 seconds.
• How Reading Novels Can Make You A Better Person
• WSJ asked if YA novels today are too dark- with abuse, violence and depravity. A YA writer took it literally and researched the color distribution of YA novels.
• Worlds Beyond Your Ken: A Guide to the Nebula Awards

Science

• Space program’s future and landing on the moon: How nostalgia for the Apollo program doesn’t help.

Technology

• For the first time since she was paralyzed by a stroke 15 years ago, a woman in the BrainGate2 clinical trial served herself a drink of coffee … with a brain-controlled robot arm (with heartwarming video)
• Light-powered bionic eye invented to help restore sight
• Microsoft-backed HTML5 ‘Prometheus’ tie-in recruits you for Weyland Industries
• Paralysed patients use thoughts to control robotic arm

Television

• Interview: Jenna Busch and Stan Lee welcome Jane Espenson, whose writing and producing credits include Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Gilmore Girls, Battlestar Galactica, and Once Upon A Time. Stan and Jane compare notes on the art of creating villains and heroes!
• 10 of the Most Profound Sentiments Ever Uttered on Community
• In a video uploaded by the BBC today, Karen Gillan, who recently wrapped up filming her final episodes of Doctor Who, asked the crew of Community to include her in an “Inspector Spacetime” episode. Last week’s season premire of Community featured a bumper crop of pop-culture parodies, including a Glee-style opening number, a 2001 homage (with excellent use of Old Chevy Chase) and most significantly, the Instant Meme of a 22-second take-off of Doctor Who*. In the few days since, the intersection of Community fans and Who fans have been reverse-engineering the 49 year run of “Inspector Spacetime” with a forum board, a TV Tropes page, and, of course, a tumblr.

Video Games

• News: Diablo 3 Beaten In 12 Hours

Writing

• Fourteen Ways To Spot A Bad Critic: Tarol Hunt, illustrator of the webcomic Goblins: Life Through Their Eyes, weighs in on hate mail sent by his readers.

Want more? Check out Geek Art Gallery for more art links and eye candy. Visit Oneironomicon for more on book trailers, reviews,and writing links.

• Amazing homemade Star Trek Shuttlecraft Clubhouse
• Sweets: Dalek Wedding Cake

Film

• Interview: Alex Pappademas examines the increasingly complicated legacy of Stan Lee in light of the release of The Avengers movie.
• Interview: NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour discusses The Avengers, among other topics, and gives Andrew Wheeler’s “Gayness of Batman” piece a shout-out.
• Interview: Sense of Wonder interviews Gavin Rothery, VFX Supervisor on Moon
• The Amazing Spider-Man director Marc Webb has a new Twitter account, which he’s so far used to tease images of Peter Parker chillin’ on a street light.
• The Ghostbusters Tour of New York
• Taken from the Studio Stories series included on the Blu-ray versions of Toy Story 1 & 2, here’s a short story about how Toy Story 2 was almost erased before the film could be rendered for theaters.
• “We stuck your girlfriend on an island” 22 main characters dismissed in sequels

Internet

• We’re all mutants now: There are a lot of us now, and most of us are a little bit off.

Literature

• Interview: Black Gate speaks with Kai Meyer of the Arabian fantasy The Stormkings.
• Interview: Here’s a Q&A with Alethea Kontis, author of Enchanted.
• Interview: Odyssey Workshop talks to this summer’s guest lecturer, Barbara Ashford, author of the upcoming fantasy novel Spellcrossed
• Interview: Samuel R. Delany talks about Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders
• Interview: Stina Leicht discusses her novels, Of Blood & Honey and And Blue Skies From Pain, with the Civilian Reader.
• ‘Game of Thrones’: George R.R. Martin fights the genre wars
• Infographic: Paper Book vs. Digital Book. Who reads which, where and why?

Science

• New Planet Found in Our Solar System?

Technology

• One week ago, anonymous engineer “BTE Dan” put up a website called Build the Enterprise. He envisions a $1 trillion spaceship modeled on the USS Enterprise being built inside twenty years. There are highly detailed plans for constructing and funding it. It quickly spreads to GizMag, DailyMail and other places.
• Russian researchers want to replace your physical body with a holographic avatar
• Why The Scariest Sci-Fi Robot Uprising Has Already Begun

Television

• Interview: Jason Segel tells Jon Stewart his idea for a post-apocalyptic How I Met Your Mother ending. I’d watch it!
• Interview: Talking Game of Thrones: Interview with Amrita Acharia
• Check Out the Low-Budget Russian ‘How I Met Your Mother’ Remake
• ‘Game Of Thrones’ Running Out Of Unkempt Old Men To Cast
• More gossip on the upcoming season of Doctor Who. No spoilers, just guess work.
• On June 7th, the Disney XD channel will premiere a new, 10-part miniseries: Tron Uprising. The series will feature the voices of Elijah Wood, Lance Henriksen, Bruce Boxleitner and more. Combining 2D and CGI animation, it is set between the events of the first and second Tron movies. Trailers: 1, 2. 2011 ComicCon Preview. Disney released a full-length “prelude episode” yesterday evening (US Only): Beck’s Beginning.
• Watch the first trailer for Revolution, the new post-apocalyptic fantasy / science fiction show from J.J. Abrams and Supernatural’s Eric Kripke
• Why The Star Trek Universe is Secretly Horrifying

Writing

• The Rule of Threes: Expressive Character Design
• What 50 Famous Authors Want Us to Know About the Writing Process
• When do you give up or start over?

Want more? Check out Geek Art Gallery for more art links and eye candy. Visit Oneironomicon for more on book trailers, reviews,and writing links.

The sole purpose of the latest clip from Prometheus seems to be to show off the movie’s titular spaceship.  It looks great and all, but I have my fingers crossed in the hope that this movie isn’t just an hour and a half of special effects.

I’m loving this new storyline, but that costume is a major downgrade from the Tobey Maguire version. It looks cartoonish. That’s not going to stop me from buying a ticket, though.

• 5 Rules for Comic-Con Cosplay
• Colossus of Hattin Papercraft
• Amazing Dragon Cake
• Black Widow cosplay [More and more]
• Mass Effect Cake

Comics

• Interview: In an interview at ICv2, IDW Publishing CEO Ted Adams discusses the growth of digital comics to 10% of the publisher’s overall direct market sales, and how contrary to the expectations of some critics, print sales have actually increased 25% as digital sales soared.
• The Spandex Closet: Ten Superheroes Who Need To Come Out
• Top 5 Unsung Marvel Avengers
• Top 20 Avengers Comic Book Covers

Film

• News: ‘Avengers’ on track for $1 billion worldwide … as ‘Avengers’ crosses $1B worldwide; Depp has soft debut. [More]
• Child acting’s new golden age: From Chloe Grace Moretz to “Shameless,” kids aren’t just getting more roles — they’re actually good. What changed?
• Marvel needs to re-hire Joss Whedon for The Avengers 2
• The MPAA is outraged and offended by The Pirate Bay “seeking to justify profiting from digital theft” by referring to Hollywood’s founders as pirates. Instead, they claim they were freedom fighters who saw no other option than to infringe patents for the sake of creativity.
• What next after Joss Whedon’s miracle year?
• Why Hollywood is no longer afraid to tackle 9/11

Internet

• Fungible: A treatise on fungibility, or, a framework for understanding the mess the news industry is in and the opportunities that lie ahead. “The younger the person you ask, the less likely it is you’ll find that link between wanting to know what’s going on and grabbing a paper or opening up a news website.”
• Game of Thrones is currently the most pirated TV show on the web, with episodes from its second season being downloaded an estimated 25 million times.
• Is Fandom A Way Of Life?

Literature

• Interview: Award winning author Ellen Datlow chats with Anna Kashina
• Interview: A brief Q&A with Mark Teppo, co-author of The Mongoliad: Book One
• Interview: Kim Stanley Robinson talks 2312 and saving the planet
• Interview: Far Beyond talks to Lev Grossman, author of The Magician King
• Interview: Making the Ordinary Meet the Extraordinary With Piers Anthony
• Interview: Mark Teppo plugs The Mongoliad
• Interview: Publisher’s Weekly Talks With Garth Nix of A Confusion of Princes
• 9 Signs Self-Publishing Is out of Control
• Fantasy Novels That Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity
• Stephen King Reveals Plot For Shining Sequel Novel
• Tor.com asks Who Would Make Up The Epic Fantasy Version Of The Avengers?

Technology

• SpaceX Announces Joint Inflatable Space Station Plans

Television

• Interview: Kevin Smith, Producer of Comic Book Men, discusses his new book, Tough Sh*t: Life Advice From a Fat Lazy Slob Who Did Good.
• 5 things we learned from 4 new clips for J.J. Abrams Revolution
• Listen to the Game of Thrones Theme being played on a pair of electric harps.
• Nail-on-the-head: “HBO Has Only Itself To Blame For Game Of Thrones Piracy.”

Video Games

• Interview: Author Iain M. Banks talks about his favorite games.

Writing

• Fandom matters: writers must respect their followers or pay with their careers
• In E-Reader Age of Writer’s Cramp, a Book a Year Is Slacking
• Tolkien’s 10 Tips for Creating Epic Heroes

Want more? Check out Geek Art Gallery for more art links and eye candy. Visit Oneironomicon for more on book trailers, reviews,and writing links.

Author: Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear
Series: The Foreworld Saga, Book 1
Publisher: 47North
Genre: Historical Fiction
Release: April 24, 2012
Length: 442 pages (Paperback)

Book Rating: B (85 / 100)

Verdict

If Michael Crichton’s Eaters of the Dead had been written by Guy Gavriel Kay, The Mongoliad would have been the final result.

Fans of historical fiction are certain to count The Mongoliad as a staple of the genre, and hardcore Neal Stephenson won’t be disappointed, either. However, The Mongoliad suffers from the same shortcomings as most books of the historical fiction genre. It is a bit dry, due to the historical tone of the narration, a bit overly cerebral, due to the necessity of explaining the details of medieval living, and a bit slow due to the sheer volume of exposition required by those explanations. The overall effect is the The Mongoliad is not a heavy piece of reading, but that much is obvious simply by virtue of Neal Stephenson’s name on the cover.

Pros: Highly authentic historical detail. Frequent, inventive battle scenes.

Cons: Unpronounceable character names. Little-to-no suspense. Slow start. Story pacing drags a bit. Sudden ending leaves the book feeling incomplete.

Synopsis

In Brief:
During the height of the Mongol conquests, twelve knights from an ancient order known as the Shield Brethren set out to prevent the invasion of Christendom by assassinating Khagan Ögedei, the Khan of Khans, in the hope of igniting a war of succession between the factions of the Mongol hordes. Told from the point of view of Cnan, a young woman acting as guide, the story follows the group’s journey through enemy territory into the heart of the Mongol empire.

Official: The first novel to be released in The Foreworld Saga, The Mongoliad: Book One, is an epic-within-an-epic, taking place in 13th century. In it, a small band of warriors and mystics raise their swords to save Europe from a bloodthirsty Mongol invasion. Inspired by their leader (an elder of an order of warrior monks), they embark on a perilous journey and uncover the history of hidden knowledge and conflict among powerful secret societies that had been shaping world events for millennia.

But the saga reaches the modern world via a circuitous route. In the late 19th century, Sir Richard F. Burton, an expert on exotic languages and historical swordsmanship, is approached by a mysterious group of English martial arts aficionados about translating a collection of long-lost manuscripts. Burton dies before his work is finished, and his efforts were thought lost until recently rediscovered by a team of amateur archaeologists in the ruins of a mansion in Trieste, Italy. From this collection of arcana, the incredible tale of The Mongoliad was recreated.

Story Elements

Atmosphere / Emotional Impact: C- (65 / 100)
Character development: B+ (90 / 100)
Pacing: B- (80 / 100)
Plot: B+ (90 / 100)
Prose: B+ (90 / 100)
World-building: A (100 / 100)

Review

Usually, where there are seven names on a cover, you’re about to read an anthology. In the case of The Mongoliad, it a sign of a new media experiment in progress. You see, The Mongoliad isn’t so much a book as a bound collection of chapters that have been serialized online. Readers can subscribe to receive the chapters as they’re posted or wait for them to be published in three parts.

Don’t let that put you off, though. Despite being written collaboratively by seven of genre’s most distinctive voices, The Mongoliad is a Neal Stephenson novel through and through. That means you can expect a long, richly detailed read fraught with nerd-worthy minutia, protracted exposition, and action sequences that read like they were shot in bullet-time. In short, this is historical fiction for geeks and nerds. All others turn back.

Like most Neal Stephenson novels (and most books of historical fiction in general), The Mongoliad starts slowly as the world-building commences. Though the story itself is a simple read with a straightforward plot, it take some time to establish the 13th century mindset. Once the cast is assembled, though, the story moves along at a brisk pace. Far brisker than one might expect from a book build around the story trope of a group adventurers on an epic quest. (As signified by the Iliad reference in the title.)

The book is divided between the journey of a small band of knights as they make their way through Mongolian territory and the struggles of a young Mongolian warrior sent to court to save Genghis Khan’s heir from his on-going battle with alcoholism. Both stories are told in the kind of educational detail only found in a Stephenson novel. The descriptions are crisp, the characters are distinct and interesting, and the setting is stunningly authentic.

Due to the heavy historical detail and enormous cast of unpronounceable names, it takes a concerted effort to work through some of the book’s narration. On the whole, The Mongoliad is a much more pleasant experience if you listen to it as an audiobook to save yourself the effort of puzzling out the names while keeping an electronic copy on hand to assist with spelling out the terms you need to Google. The effort of deciphering the authors’ archaic terminology and tracking the movements of the characters through the geography of the ancient world are part of the book’s charm, and the sort of reader attracted to Neal Stephenson novels will consider the side trips of the internet to be a labor of love.

Meanwhile, there are five major action sequences and three chase scenes interspersed through the book to keep readers’ interest high. The exquisite authenticity of these martial sequences are the raison d’etre of The Mongoliad.

Character development is a bit austere in this first installment in the series, but the lack of interior character development is largely in keeping with the historical tone of the book. The authors’ eschew such modern conventions as protracted internal reveries and snappy dialogue for the sake of the book’s atmosphere, the solemnity of which sets the book apart from many other pieces of historical fiction.

The biggest shortcoming of the book is it’s abrupt ending. Readers should prepare to be frustrated. The book doesn’t end with a cliffhanger; it just ends. Subscribers to The Mongoliad project can continue reading. The rest of us just have to wait for the next book to hit shelves in September. Personally, I would advise readers to wait until all three books have hit the market before testing the waters. The anticipation is likely to be excruciating.

Disclaimer

Wunderkind PR sent The Great Geek Manual a copy of an advance review copy of The Mongoliad at no cost. We extend our sincere thanks to them. However, the free copy did not influence the opinion of this reviewer.

Similar Books

If you enjoy this book, you may also enjoy these similar titles:

• Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton
• Hood by Stephen R. Lawhead
• Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay
• Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay

Further Information

• Read an extract from The Mongoliad at Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist.
• Read more about this project at Venture Beat.
• Visit The Mongoliad Facebook page.
• Visit the official The Mongoliad website.
• Visit the official website of author Greg Bear.
• Visit the official website of author Neal Stephenson.
• Watch a group video interview with the authors of The Mongoliad.

“We may not be sexy, but we have fresh uniforms nonetheless! We Trekkies and We Know It!”

• Fans of The Princess Bride will appreciate this design concept.
• Portal Cake is not a lie!
• Someone needs to make this into a real stained glass window
• Terrible Yellow Eyes: A papercraft tribute to the late Maurice Sendak
• Versus/Hearts is a playful project that combines two characters that strongly dislike each other into heart-shaped images.

Comics

• Superman: Stuffy Boy Scout, or Charming Folk Hero?

Film

• News: The second JJ Abrams Star Trek movie has wrapped production. Now, it’ll only take another six months to work in all of the requisite lens flares.
• Avengers 2 in the Works: 10 Ways to Prep For the Superhero Sequel
• The Avengers isn’t just a hit, it’s impacting the pop culture.
• Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg reveal ‘The World’s End’ plot
• How the Hell Do You Top The Avengers?
• io9 lists 10 Things You’ll See in Almost Every Tim Burton Movie. (Only ten?)
• Implosions in The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, Prometheus: Are Hollywood explosions turning inside-out? Yep, it’s another case of monkey see, monkey do.
• The Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies names its picks for The Top Ten Best Science Fiction Movies, which, ironically, have nothing to do with ethics.
• The Most Human Moment in The Avengers: An interesting essay about one of the most human moments in the movie. Joss didn’t just make giant tentpole movie; he made a giant tentpole movie with his passions and interests intact.
• The Pentagon Does Not Approve of S.H.I.E.L.D. or The Avengers
• Secret ‘Avengers’ cameo: Lou Ferrigno helped voice the Hulk
• Someone has done some number crunching and concluded that Manhattan suffered $160 billion in damage in The Avengers… Here’s a flash game that “simulates” what it’s like to deal with Marvel U catastrophes.
• What is really lurking underneath the film The Cabin in the Woods? Is it about the horror movie industry or the rise of torture porn in the genre? Maybe you should ask co-writer/producer Joss Whedon or co-writer/director Drew Goddard.
• Wikipedia Founder Says Irrelevance, Not Piracy, Will Doom Hollywood

Internet

• Disney Reveals That Every Disney Movie Takes Place In Single, Unified Universe
• Dominic Deville, An Evil Birthday Clown, Stalks Your Child For A Fee. The perfect gift for any parent who wants to guarantee their child requires therapy for life!
• George Lucas Does Something Likeable For a Change: Revenge on Rich Neighbors

Literature

• Interview: Jakob Waitekus mixes sci-fi, fantasy and faith in hist first novel
• Interview: Lev Grossman of The Magicians chats with Far Beyond Reality
• Interview: Sword & Laser chats with the many authors of The Mongoliad
• Interview: Tansy Rayner Roberts on Urban Epic Fantasy and Feminsim
• Interview: Treasured Tales interviews Alethea Kontis of Enchanted.
• Interview: Watch Stephen Colbert interview Maurice Sendak
• News: ‘Harry Potter’ Series Will Be Free in Amazon’s Kindle Lending Library
• Authors pick the wisest Sci-Fi & Fantasy author via Twitter.

Science

• Deep Space Mine: The crazy, awesome plan hatched by billionaires to mine asteroids for platinum. Sounds like science fiction.

Technology

• Giant robot puts you in the driver’s seat: Gundam-style robots of Japanese science fiction are coming to life. About damnn time!
• How To Survive A Robot Uprising (aka Robopocalypse)
• Warzone Robot Makes Wedding Super Cute

Television

• Interview: Leonard Nimoy talks with LA Times Reporter Geoff Boucher about his work as an actor, director and photographer. In part one of a two-part interview, Nimoy reveals what he first thought of the original Star Trek series and details about the making of Star Trek IV.
• News: Community Renewed With 13-Episode Order
• A Dark Shadows crash course
• The Fairy Tale in the TV Age
• Game of Thrones is on pace to become the most pirated show of 2012.
• Joss Whedon picks top 10 ‘Buffy’ eps for LOGO marathon

Video Games

• The Portal 2 Infinite Testing Initiative has gone live on Steam, and it’s free if you already have or purchase Portal 2. Even better, it’s got more of Cave Johnson to listen to. While you download it, you can read a memo from Mr. Johnson to you, his employee. So get to work. Science is depending on you.

Writing

• You may want to consider this spreadsheet from a professional genre magazine before deciding to launch your own magazine.

Want more? Check out Geek Art Gallery for more art links and eye candy. Visit Oneironomicon for more on book trailers, reviews,and writing links.

“Five children, scions of the frosty bite
Dire wolves that hunt in the dead of the night
House of Stark, Winterfell, now the winter’s come
King in the North, bow down, now a war is on”

• Lego Avengers Weapons

Comics

• Interview: Bob Wayne and John Cunningham discuss DC’s Before Watchmen marketing strategies and the departure of Chris Roberson… sort of.
• 6 Ways Iron Man Is Objectively Better Than Batman makes a compelling argument.
• The 11 Best Supervillain Superpowers
• The 25 Greatest Avengers Stories, from Korvac’s Saga to Kang’s Dynasty
• Avengers, Assembled (and Visualized)
• What should we call this age of comics? How about the Electronic Age?

Cross-Media

• Tara, Wesley and 13 other Joss Whedon deaths that broke our hearts. [Spoilers]

Film

• Interview: Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige explains Why the Avengers don’t say their most famous catchphrase in The Avengers
• Interview: ‘The Pirates! Band of Misfits’ Director Peter Lord Talks Stop-Motion
• Interview: Ready To Step Into Your Favorite Superhero’s Shoes?
• News: Kick Ass 2 Films This Summer For Release Next May
• News: Universal In Talks To Continue ‘Kick-Ass’ Franchise
• 5 Things You Didn’t Know About the Original Ghostbusters
• Are we being too hard on movie trailers?
• The Avengers: The First Superhero Chick Flick?
• Is ‘Gravity’ Alfonso Cuaron’s Game-Changing Masterpiece? First Impressions.
• io9 picks 10 Best Comic Book Movies of All Time
• Three Cheers for Joss Whedon: King of the Geeks, King of the World!
• Watch the end title sequence from The Avengers.
• Why ‘The Avengers’ Wasn’t the Most Pirated Film Last Week
• What’s next for cast & crew of The Avengers?

Internet

• D20 Lollipop. Want.

Literature

• Interview: Amazing Interview with Lev Grossman of The Magicians
• The M.I.T. Science Fiction Library is one of the three largest publicly available collections of science fiction in the world. Here’s a bit of its history.
• What Will Become of the Paper Book?: How they will evolve in the age of Kindle.
• Why are so many vampire stories so weak?
• Why Publishers Don’t Like Apps

Science

• Avenging Reality: Building The Awesome Universe In Fact And Fiction

Technology

• DARPA plans to place diagnostic nanochip in soldiers
• Intel futurist discusses data’s secret life, ‘ghost of computing’
• The TeleHuman is a life-size, 3D video chat pod straight out of your sci-fi dreams

Want more? Check out Geek Art Gallery for more art links and eye candy. Visit Oneironomicon for more on book trailers, reviews,and writing links.

At San Diego Comic-Con International in 2009, a short film by Clare Grant and Rileah Vanderbilt and their Danger Maiden Productions (along with Ariescope Pictures) called Saber won the awards for both Best Action Short and Audience Choice in the 8th Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards competition.

You loved Saber. Now, the long-awaited release of it’s sequel, Saber 2: Return of the Body Wash is finally here! What’s more, it’s everything fans of the first video could have hoped for. Rileah Vanderbilt and Clare Grant returning for more light sabering, more suds, and more comedy. Saber 2 is is directed by Grant’s husband, Seth Green.

The last remnants of the Empire have been defeated, and it is a period of peace in the galaxy. The Jedi Order, no longer needed in their role as defenders, have scattered across the stars and started new lives…while the Sith wait quietly hidden in their midst.

Such a Jedi and her Sith counterpart have found common ground and established a new business together on a remote planet. United by a love of animals and a belief in the force, they have rededicated their lives to the art of grooming.

Their latest mission leads them to the base of a former Rebel. Though the war is over, they have not forgotten where their true allegiances lie.

Once you’ve had your fill, check out this behind-the-scenes photo gallery and subscribe to the Nerdist YouTube Channel.

“Born out of our geek love for the new (not so new) Battlestar Galactica series here is the music video for our BSG inspired parody of Cee Lo Green’s “F**k You!” Seemed like if anyone should be inspired to offer up a good ol’ “Frak You!” it’d be Anders. We had a blast making it. Please spread it around- tell everyone, share the link!!”