 |
| Credit: Pixabay.com |
Here is another post of Lightning News Flashes! Lightning News
Flashes are bits of news in the science fiction and fantasy scene.
The news for this post: author Ian McEwan’s response to fans
lashing out at his
so-called denial of science fiction; a new BBC series of
articles about sci fi books that correctly predicted today’s
events; an artifact from a classic Universal film based on a classic
gothic novel; the Locus Awards.
Ian McEwan Says He Was Not Putting Down Sci Fi
Last week, I said it
was reported that Ian McEwan was criticised by science fiction fans
for denying his newest book, Machines Like Me, being sci fi
and implying that the genre was an insignificant form of fiction. I talked about how that was a misunderstanding on the part of
those fans’. Well, this week Wired reported that McEwan
himself has admitted that he was misunderstood, that he was not
trying to downgrade science fiction and that he was even open to his
novel being classified in the genre. More details about this can be
found at Wired.com.
New BBC Series of Articles On Sci Fi as Prophecy
A few weeks back, I
discussed how science fiction can and has served
as a form of prophecy. A new series of articles at BBC’s Culture website talks about
books that have done that. The first installment of this series is about how John Brunner’s
1968 novel, Stand on Zanzibar, predicted today’s events such
as wearable technology, legalisation of marijuana, same-sex marriage and widespread mass shootings. According to this article, Brunner’s novel predicted events as
accurately as no more than a year’s difference from when they’ve
really happened. However, it also talks about some of the
inaccuracies in the novel’s predictions, sci fi tropes such as guns
that shoot out electrical bolts. Well,
if it weren’t for
inaccuracies such as that the novel would no longer be science
fiction, would it?
‘Hunchback of Notre Dame’ Movie Collectible To Be Auctioned
 |
| Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Universal |
Los Angeles
Magazine reports that several sci fi and fantasy movie
memorabilia items are going up for bid in the TCM Presents . . .
Wonders of the Galaxy auction this Tuesday.
Among these is a promotion poster for Universal’s silent classic,
The Hunchback of Notre Dame which starred Lon Chaney
Sr. The movie was based on Victor Hugo’s gothic novel of the same
name. The poster’s estimated value is $150,000 to $200,000. This
auction will also offer another, similar, item of a silent film that
starred Lon Chaney: a lobby card for the lost vampire film, London
After Midnight. The card is estimated to be at a value between
$18,000 and $25,000.
2019 Locus Awards Finalists
The Locus Science
Fiction Foundation has selected the top ten finalists for the 2019
Locus Awards. The winners will be announced at the Locus Awards
ceremony in Seattle, WA, during the weekend of June 28th
2019. Author Connie Willis will host the ceremony.
The Locus Awards is an annual awards ceremony, put on by the ones who
publish Locus Magazine,
that acknowledges the best in speculative fiction.
That’s it for this
week’s science fiction and fantasy news. Be here next week for a
Book-To-Movie review!
Have you ever
attended the Locus Awards? Do you read Locus Magazine?
Until next time . .
.
Comments
Post a Comment