Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) stands solidly in support of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike in seeking appropriate compensation for writers when their work is distributed digitally, either in DVD form or through Internet downloads. Although SFWA is not a union, it is an organization of writers that advocates for authors' rights. WGA and its demands fall squarely into this category. All writers will be affected by the outcome of this strike, and we stand or fall on our solidarity in resisting those who seek to distribute our work on the Internet without fair compensation.

Contrary to prevailing wisdom, the future is not here yet. As science fiction writers, we're perhaps in a better position to see that than others. Society is in a transitional phase, as physical entertainment media slowly give way to their digital equivalents. Physical distribution, cumbersome and expensive, is going the way of the buggy whip and rotary phone dial. The change has already started with the distribution of films and TV shows.

During this phase, writers and other creators are having their work distributed digitally without seeing any benefit at all. The excuse given is that this distribution is for promotional purposes only, but, in fact, the powers that be are using this transitional period to establish unfair precedents. It's the camel's nose. These precedents will hurt creators as digital distribution becomes the predominant method of distributing and accessing content. It's as if book publishers of the early twentieth century had told authors that movies would be made out of their books, but they shouldn't get any money because the movies wouldn't be profitable and were being made just to promote the sale of books.

SFWA believes that writers should be paid a fair amount for each DVD and for each download of their work. If the work is used on the Internet in any way, the writer should be fairly compensated. This is a fundamental writers' right, and it's worth fighting for. WGA is staking its claim on the future, and SFWA supports it wholeheartedly.

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Tim Kring Talks Heroes Missteps

Heroes creator Tim Kring addressed the issues that some fans have had with the show this season. In particular, he addressed the people who despise Claire's new flying boyfriend (we don't like him either, he's annoying) and Hiro's sojurn in ancient Japan (we loved that segment, although we could have done without Hiro falling for Takezo Kensei's girlfriend).

THE PACE IS TOO SLOW: "We assumed the audience wanted season 1 - a buildup of intrigue about these characters and the discovery of their powers. We taught [them] to expect a certain kind of storytelling. They wanted adrenaline. We made a mistake."

THE WORLD-SAVING STAKES SHOULD HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED SOONER: The premonition of nuclear apocalypse created a larger context that unified every story line last season. Kring now sees that Volume 2 (the first 11 episodes of season 2) would have been better served if Peter's vision of viral Armageddon had appeared in the season premiere rather than episode 7. "We took too long to get to the big-picture story," he says.

THE ROOKIES DIDN'T GREET THEMSELVES PROPERLY: New Heroes Monica (Dana Davis), Maya (Dania Ramirez), and Alejandro (Shalim Ortiz) "shouldn't have been introduced in separate story lines that felt unattached to the show. The way we introduced Elle (Kristen Bell) - by weaving her in via Peter's story line - is a more logical way to bring new characters into the show." (That said, Kring says a few newbies won't make it beyond this second volume, which wraps Dec. 3.)

HIRO WAS IN JAPAN WAY TOO LONG: Hiro's (Masi Oka) time-bending adventure in 17th-century Japan - where he mentored samurai hero Takezo Kensei (David Anders) - finally came to an end on Nov. 5. But Kring says it "should have [lasted] three episodes. We didn't give the audience enough story to justify the time we allotted it."

YOUNG LOVE STINKS Kring regrets sticking Claire (Hayden Panettiere) with a super-dud boyfriend and forcing Hiro to moon over a cutesy princess. "I've seen more convincing romances on TV," he admits. "In retrospect, I don't think romance is a natural fit for us."

We thought this week's episode was pitch-perfect. Of course, with the Writers' Strike going on, it's likely that Volume 2 will end in December, earlier than was originally planned.

Posted on November 8, 2007
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Saturn Sounds Like a 50s Science Fiction Movie

Remember the creepy sound effects on some of those old science fiction films? Well, NASA just released a sound file that contains Saturn's actualy radio emissions and they sound just like the sound effects used in old science fiction films. Rupert Goodwins, blogging at ZDNet's Mixed Signals blog, says the signals sound like the sounds effects on BBC radio science fiction dramas from the 50s, 60s and 70s.

The technology of the 50s, 60s and 70s was such that these sounds tended to be heavy on whooshy reverb and atonal squonking: these abstract efforts were content to evoke an emotional response that didn't go much beyond "oooh, that's weird". Of course, in short order that response mutated to "oooh, that's 'em silly buggers at the Radiophonic Workshop mucking around again" and whacked-out audio spaciness became as dated as anything printed in the Data 70 font.

Nobody told Saturn. Perhaps it was that the Saturnalians first contact with mankind was via a series of space probes launched in the 60s and 70s, which tended to come with a nice set of "Sounds of Earth" cover disks -- FREE with Voyagers 1 and 2! - that inevitably reflected the spirit of the times. Perhaps they just got addicted to BBC broadcasts of The Foundation Trilogy and Brian Aldiss short stories, but lost their wireless by the time Hitch-Hiker's Guide brought the genre slightly more up to date. Maybe it's just that Saturn, every inch the classic SF icon and by far the most typecast of the planets, feels it necessary to underline its brand in order to fend off more distant newcomers as they are revealed by Hubble and pals.

Whatever the reason, we now have the radio sounds that Saturn makes, relayed from the Cassini orbiter. And those sounds are identical in every way to the legally-mandated science fiction background sounds which the BBC saw fit to transmit in those bygone days.

I am at a loss to explain this. But it makes me very happy.

NASA tries to explain that these sounds have something to do with the auroras near the poles of the planet Saturn but we are pretty sure it is the Saturnalians waiting for us with their ray guns.

Posted on November 5, 2007
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Joss and Eliza: Together Again

Joss Whedon has signed with Fox once again to do a sf television series. It stars Eliza Dushku and it sounds really cool. The name of the show is Dollhouse.

According to the interview with E! Online with Dushku and Whedon, Dollhouse is the story of Echo, a programmable human plaything:

"Echo (Eliza Dushku) [is] a young woman who is literally everybody's fantasy. She is one of a group of men and women who can be imprinted with personality packages, including memories, skills, language--even muscle memory--for different assignments. The assignments can be romantic, adventurous, outlandish, uplifting, sexual and/or very illegal.

"When not imprinted with a personality package, Echo and the others are basically mind-wiped, living like children in a futuristic dorm/lab dubbed the Dollhouse, with no memory of their assignments--or of much else. The show revolves around the childlike Echo's burgeoning self-awareness, and her desire to know who she was before, a desire that begins to seep into her various imprinted personalities and puts her in danger both in the field and in the closely monitored confines of the Dollhouse."

We like the concept, we like the casting, we are very disturbed that the show is on Fox. Joss, Joss, what did they promise you to come back? Did they promise to show the series in order? Did they swear they wouldn't pull the show after a few episodes have aired? Are you sill having Firefly nightmares? We are.

Naturally, we'll be tuning in.

Posted on November 1, 2007
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