Debuting on May 29:

Fear Itself. The show, a horror anthology series from the makers of Masters of Horror, will feature such stars as John Billingsley and Shiri Appleby and showcase the talents of directors including Brad Anderson, Mary Harron, Ernest Dickerson, Ronny Yu, John Carpenter and Stuart Gordon.

Shows on the fall 2008-'09 schedule:

Chuck, airing Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

Heroes, airing Mondays at 9 p.m.

My Own Worst Enemy, airing Mondays at 10 p.m. Christian Slater makes his television series debut as Henry Spivey, an efficiency expert and married father of two who learns that he has an alter ego named Edward Albright, an operative who speaks numerous languages and can kill with his teeth. The network is touting it as "Jekyll and Hyde meets Jason Bourne." Heroes veteran David Semel directed the pilot and will stay on as executive producer.

Knight Rider, airing Wednesdays at 8 p.m. NBC scored a hit with a two-hour backdoor pilot movie that aired in February, and the series picks up where the movie left off. K.I.T.T., the supercar with a mind of its own, returns, as do stars Justin Bruening, Deanna Russo, Sydney Tamiia Poitier and Bruce Davison.

Shows debuting in winter 2009:

Merlin, airing Sundays at 8 p.m. A fantasy series set in Camelot but inspired by 21st-century storytelling, Merlin stars Colin Morgan (Doctor Who) as the title character and Bradley James as Arthur, and it explores the characters' lives before they became legends. Co-stars include Anthony Head (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Richard Wilson and Angel Coulby.

Kings, airing Sundays at 10. A modern-day spin on the King David tale, the show stars Christopher Egan as David and Ian McShane as the king. Michael Green (Heroes) penned the pilot and will executive-produce. I Am Legend helmer Francis Lawrence directed the pilot and will executive-produce the series as well.

Series debuting in summer 2009:

The Listener, airing Thursdays at 10 p.m. Toby Logan (Craig Olejinik of Thirteen Ghosts) is a 24-year-old paramedic and telepath who's always ignored his ability to hear people's thoughts ... until now. Having changed his mind, he uses his unique gift to help others.

Miniseries debuting in 2009:

The Last Templar. In this four-hour miniseries, four horsemen dressed as knights crash the New York Metropolitan Museum during the opening of an exhibition of Vatican treasures and swipe an arcane medieval decoder, thereby sending an archaeologist (Mira Sorvino) and an FBI agent (Scott Foley) on a wild chase for the secrets of the Knights Templar. Co-stars include Victor Garber and Omar Sharif.

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Read Neil Gaiman's American Gods for Free Online



HarperCollins has posted the entire text of Neil Gaiman's bestselling novel, American Gods online. It will only be there for one month, so by all means check it out if you haven't read it yet. You can read it here.

You can read our book editor's review of American Gods from back in the day here. You can read our interview with Neil in which he talks about American Gods here.You can read Neil's blog here.

Posted on March 9, 2008
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Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Supports WGA Strike

Michael Capobianco, the president of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), has written the following statement in support of the WGA strike. The SFWA is an organization of writers that advocates for authors' rights.

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.

The writers' strike looks like it could last a while. It will affect many fantasy/sf tv shows and films but the writers feel they were left with no choice but to strike. You can find more information about the WGA strike here on writerswrite.com and here on Twitter.

Posted on November 10, 2007
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Robert Jordan Dead at 58

James Oliver Rigney Jr.,who wrote the bestselling Wheel of Time epic fantasy series under the name Robert Jordan, has died at the age of 58. He was suffering from a rare blood disorder, primary amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy. The disease eventually caused his heart to fail.

"Few people have managed to imagine a world the way that Robert Jordan did," Wendy Bradley, editor of the science-fiction magazine Farthing told The Times. "That was a great strength of his writing. He was trying to tell a story on a heroic scale, and he was good -- he had the same grip on storytelling that J.K. Rowling has." More than 30 million copies of the books have been sold and the series has been translated into about two dozen languages, according to Tor, his New York publisher. By the 1990s, Rigney had come to dominate the fantasy genre spawned by J.R.R. Tolkien and "The Lord of the Rings."

The "Wheel" novels tell the story of Rand al'Thor, who heroically battles evil in a mythical land and was modeled on the Norse god of justice. The increasing popularity of the fantasy genre was reflected in reader fascination with the escapist tale, and fans at book signings could range in age from their early teens to their 80s. When asked to describe what fueled the series' incredibly complicated plot lines, Rigney often replied by saying, "What if somebody came up to this average person on the street and said, 'You are the savior of humanity.' What do you do with that?"

He had a secretary whose main job was to keep the facts straight in the elaborate world he created that spanned 11 books and almost 7,420 pages. Some critics questioned his wordiness, yet he could sum up the series' driving force in three words: "Life changes. Deal." The series has inspired a thriving online community with hundreds of Internet sites devoted to it. Among the largest is TarValon.net, which has several thousand members, said Melissa Craib, chief executive officer of the Los Angeles-based site. "An amazing community has been built around what he has created," Craib told The Times. "His thoughts and his ideas about honor and service and making it through difficult times are exceptionally inspiring to many people. It draws together people who want to embody these qualities."

On his personal blog at www.dragonmount.com, Rigney updated fans on his health and reassured them that he was working on "A Memory of Light," the 12th and last novel in the "Wheel" series. He reportedly left behind detailed notes on the novel and had shared the end of the story with his wife, Harriet, who was his editor, and a cousin. "I am quite confident that the series will be finished," Craib said. "This is important to his legacy."

His loss will be felt greatly in the fantasy and sf communities: he will be greatly missed. You can visit Jim's blog page here. You can see his website, maintained by his publisher Tor, here.

Posted on September 19, 2007
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Sci-Fi Channel Announces Fall Lineup

Sci-Fi Channel has announced its fall lineup and schedule.

The fourth season of Stargate Atlantis debuts on Sept. 28 and will air Fridays at 10 p.m. Atlantis will have a midseason finale on Dec. 7, a finale that will feature the return of Torri Higginson as Dr. Elizabeth Weir. The Atlantis team must ally itself with a known enemy to join forces against an even greater foe.

Beginning in October, SCI FI will air Battlestar Galactica "mini-sodes" entitled "Razor" during episodes of the hit series Flash Gordon, Fridays at 9 p.m. The two-to-three-minute shorts will lead into the Nov. 24 premiere of "Razor," the two-hour Battlestar special TV movie, which will tell the story of Lee Adama's (Jamie Bamber) first mission as commander of the Battlestar Pegasus and will reveal the story of how Adm. Cain (Michelle Forbes) served her ship during the original Cylon attack on the Colonies. "Razor," which airs at 9 p.m., will provide a backdrop to events in the rest of Battlestar, which returns for its fourth and final season in early 2008. "Razor" is written by Michael Taylor and directed by Felix Alcala. It also stars Katee Sackhoff and Tricia Helfer and introduces Stephanie Jacobsen as Kendra, Adm. Cain's protege.

Throughout the fall, SCI FI's summer series will have their finales: Who Wants To Be a Superhero? at 9 p.m. Sept. 13, Painkiller Jane at 10 p.m. Sept. 21, Eureka at 9 p.m. Oct. 2 and Doctor Who at 8 p.m. Oct. 5.

In December, SCI FI will air its original miniseries Tin Man; the exact date and time are yet to be determined

It's a good lineup, except for the fact that The Dresden Files and Stargate SG-1 won't be around. Because we're still ticked off about those omissions. Still, Samantha Carter will be moving over to Stargate Atlantis, so that's good. And speaking of Stargate Atlantis, fans who don't want to be spoiled should be careful what they read online -- there are massive spoilers for the whole season everywhere. Apparently, they've already shown part of the season in Canada, which makes absolutely no sense to us. You've been warned.

Posted on August 16, 2007
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Finalists Announced For British Fantasy Awards

Locus reports on the finalists for the year's British Fantasy Awards:

Finalists for the year's British Fantasy Awards include Best Novel nominees Chaz Brenchley, Mike Carey, Mark Chadbourn, M. John Harrison, Tim Lebbon, Scott Lynch, Sarah Pinborough, Mark Samuels, and Conrad Williams... plus Ian McDonald, Neil Gaiman, Ellen Datlow, John Picacio, Julie Phillips, and others in categories for novella, short fiction, anthology, collection, artist, small press, and non-fiction. The winners will be announced at Fantasycon, 21-23 September 2007 in Nottingham, UK.

See the full list of nominees here. Get more info about the 2007 FantasyCon here. You can subscribe to the print edition of Locus, which is worth every penny, here.

Posted on August 11, 2007
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Welcome to FantasySF Blog

Hello and welcome to the FantasySF Blog, the newest addition to the Writers Write Lifestyle Network of blogs and websites. We love fantasy, sf and horror around here and can't wait to share some of our finds with you. We'll be blogging about fantasy and science fiction books, games, movies and videos. If you'd like to send tips or tell us about your favorite happening in the fantasy/sf/horror universe, email us here. We'd love to hear from you!

Posted on July 25, 2007
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