The public television show Day at Night ran in the 70s and featured in depth interviews with a wide range of people from nuclear physicist Edward Teller to legendary boxer Muhammad Ali. This wonderful interview with science fiction author Ray Bradbury is from 1974 and he goes into wonderful detail on what inspired him:

I’m a big fan of literary mashups, and also a big weird fiction fan, so obviously a combination of Dr. Seuss and H.P. Lovecraft is right up my alley. Not only did DeviantArt user DrFaustus take up Seuss’ artistic style, he also turned Lovecraft’s famous story The Call of Cthulhu into Seuss-style rhyming couplets! It’s some kind of adorable eldritch gift from beyond time and space. Can’t wait to see more of these pages as they’re released. He should tackle At the Mountains of Madness next; imagine Elder Things drawn all Seussically.

Michael Sacco is a freelance editor and writer.

I confess that of the 16.2 zillion reruns I caught as a kid, the 1950s’The Lone Ranger isn’t one I particularly took to— I was more of a Zorro girl— but plenty of nerds grew up with Kemo Sabe and Tonto, whether as a new radio/television series or in rerun form, and I was certainly interested in Johnny Depp’s take on the character (I haven’t reached critical mass on Depp flicks, apparently).

Unfortunately, production on the flick has just been shut down.

Even fanpersons who aren’t into westerns may have a particular interest in The Lone Ranger— not just as a different take on the masked hero, but because it was in fact the predecessor to The Green Hornet, whose radio show launched in 1936 as a spinoff focusing on the Ranger’s nephew’s son. (The comic book series didn’t start until four years later.) So yes, the film would have had plenty of nerd cred, even if you feel like it was more your father’s kind of fandom, dear readers.

Unfortunately it seems unlikely to see the light of day, even with Depp’s involvement…which would have been as Tonto, by the way; Armie Hammer (best known for his turn as Cameron Winklevoss in The Social Network, although other audiences may know him as Gossip Girl’s Gabriel Edwards) was going to play the title Texas Ranger. Word at the Chicago Sun-Times is that the film had “budget issues,” but that might have just been code for “we don’t think it’ll make back its budget,” particularly in the wake of Cowboys and Aliens‘ mediocre showing.

On the other hand, given the wide variety of terrible television remakes (and Depp’s less-than-spotless record for caricature roles), this cancellation could be a blessing. Besides, with Rick Perry now officially running for the Republican presidential nomination, we may have more than enough Texas set for the screen. (Trust me; I live here.)

Gia Manry is a Texas-based geek who you can hire. Or you could just follow her on Twitter.

He’s done it again. Check out one of the latest sets of Star Wars customs from Sillof’s Workshop. This time the theme’s centered around 1940s pulp sci-fi. He does a fantastic job of capturing that retro aesthetic made popular by serials like Buck Rodgers and Flash Gordon. Come to think of it, I’m sure if Star Wars had been filmed in the late ’30s or early ’40s, Buster Crabbe would have been cast as a dashing and slightly cut Luke Skywalker. I’m not sure I’d want to sit through a trilogy of him dressed in tanned tights, but I suppose it wouldn’t look as gaudy if it were in black and white. Any way, check out the rest of these fantastic figures at Sillof’s official website. I just wish he’d strike a deal with Lucas Arts to manufacture them. Who wouldn’t totally buy these?

found via Rampaged Reality

Tim is a pro-blogger and freelance writer out of San Diego, California. In addition to Fanboy.com, several outlets he’s written for include the Japanese culture and entertainment blog, Japanator, and the collectible toy culture site Tomopop. For more information, follow him on twitter, or check out TimSheehy.com.

Author Tim Maughan has just released a new collection of science fiction short stories titled Paintwork. The stories have a wonderful range of interesting characters from augmented reality street artists to two young Cubans caught up in video game tournament which turns out to be much more than that. The book is available at Amazon in the US and Amazon in the UK and at Smashwords.

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction is considered to be the authoritative guide on the genre, but it’s oddly resisted the siren song of the information age. Until now, anyway! The Encyclopedia will be going digital, according to a press release on their website. All text will be free and available online, though admittedly that leaves the question of what won’t be free. Multiplatform users will appreciate that the Encyclopedia staff is investigating ebook and app versions of the tome as well. And for those who still love the feel of a book in their hands, fear not — a gargantuan physical version of the book will still be published.

Michael Sacco is a freelance writer and editor, currently working as senior editor at WoW Insider, part of the Joystiq network.

Yes, the headline only makes sense as a pun if you pronounce “noire” with two syllables instead of its more correct one-weird-syllable  method. But listen, it doesn’t matter. You can get LA Noire: The Collected Stories, the tie-in novel to bestselling video game LA Noire, for zero dollars this week.  Amazon.com, BN.com, and iTunes are all offering the ebook for nothing and for the portable reading device of your choosing. So get on it, copper! That’s the only way you’ll catch that dame. Michael Sacco is a freelance editor and writer, currently working as senior editor at WoW Insider, part of the Joystiq network.

Legendary “weird fiction” writer H.P. Lovecraft spawned a mythos that continues to thrive well after his death, and its nihilistic, uncaring universe is populated with aliens, extradimensional beings, and regular old earthbound monsters. The funny part about most of these creatures, though, is that few words are usually used to describe how they actually look. That hasn’t stopped artists from trying, though. My first introduction to Lovecraft was my copy of Barlowe’s Guide to Extraterrestrials I got as a kid, wherein the titular Wayne Barlowe drew his closest approximation of what Lovecraft’s Elder Things — the aliens from “At the Mountains of Madness” — looked like. Michael Bukowski continues in Barlowe’s grand tradition by drawing pretty much every one of Lovecraft’s numerous horrors, using creative license to fill in the blanks that Lovecraft’s proclivity for dramatic obfuscation left behind.

(via io9)

Michael Sacco is a freelance editor and writer, currently working as senior editor at WoW Insider, part of the Joystiq network.

Check out this lovely painting by Weta Workshop’s Ben Wootten, who once served as both artist and concept designer for Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. You may recognize his work from the various DVD extras and art books included with the various releases over the years. WETA recently made his work available for sale in the form of large poster art prints. Each individual 23.7″ x 11.7″ print sells for roughly $35 plus shipping and comes high quality satin paper, and while you may have missed our chance to receive a hand-signed copy, I can assure you each poster is more than worth that price. Unfortunately, the more I look at them, the more I find myself pining away for The Hobbit. Until then, we’ll just be left craving for more. For an closer look at the poster, or to order one of your own, check out the WETA store for more information.

Tim is a pro-blogger and freelance writer out of San Diego, California. In addition to Fanboy.com, he contributes to the ModernMethod Network of sites as the Features and Reviews Editor for the Japanese culture and entertainment blog, Japanator. He’s also an Assocaite Editor for their popular gaming blog, Destructoid, and the collectible toy culture blog, Tomopop. For more information, follow him on twitter, or check out TimSheehy.com.

No, not that kind of song, and not that kind of cover either! We’re talking book covers here. George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire is getting a Japanese translation via Hayakawa Publishing, and a few well-known manga and video game artists have provided covers for the series’ run. Ken Sugawara and Yasushi Suzuki have some of my favorites on here; it’s pretty great to see such a different take on the characters compared to HBO’s recent (very successful) Game of Thrones TV series.

Michael Sacco is a freelance editor and writer, currently working as senior editor at WoW Insider.

If you’re reading this site, you’re probably comfortably familiar with the old trope of dragons hoarding treasure, given that it’s been present in almost every fantasy setting ever. But have you ever given much thought to how much some of those hoards would be worth in real dollars? Probably not. Forbes did, though! In fact, they’ve compiled a list of the 15 wealthiest fictional characters, and Smaug’s hoard, calculated with lots of easy-to-understand math formulae, puts him squarely in the 7th position on the list. For an explanation as to how the total value of his hoard ($8.6 billion) was estimated, check out Michael Noer’s very entertaining Forbes article.

Michael Sacco is a freelance editor and writer, currently working as senior editor at WoW Insider.

We consider the genre a staple nowadays, but back in the 30s, science fiction was still a relatively new thing. It hadn’t even been coined “science fiction” yet — “science romance” was a popular term, along with “pseudo-scientific” and “scientifiction” (which sounds like some kind of chemical reaction). Time Magazine reported on the very first World Science Fiction Convention in 1939, and now, thanks to the miracle of the internet, you can read the original article. It’s a doozy, an openly condescending take on the “shamo-scientifics” that were so popular in the pulp fiction world at the time. It directly refers to the venerable Hugo Gernsback as a “shrewd, fat old man.” Don’t miss it.

Michael Sacco is a freelance editor and writer, currently working as senior editor at WoW Insider.

The next book in George R. R. Martin’s much-loved A Song of Ice and Fire series, A Dance with Dragons, has been due for quite a while. It’s had release dates from 2007 all the way through this year! But fans of the series can now rejoice — a hard release date of July 12th, 2011 has been set for Dance. Judging by Martin’s rate of producing work, it’ll be some time before you get the next book in the series, so you should enjoy this one while it lasts. And at 900+ pages, that should be quite a while.

Michael Sacco is a freelance editor and writer, currently working as senior editor at WoW Insider.

If you’re like me, while strolling through your local Ikea, you’ve thought to yourself “this black leather chair is nice, but if only it had an enormous octopus built into it…” Maximo Riera clearly feels the same way, as he’s designed this downright Cthulhuesque…Cthulhoid…Cthonic…Cthulhu-lookin’ chair. Perfect for not being dead, but lounging eternally. Alternatively, reading the writings of the mad Arab Abdul Al-Hazred and summoning horrors from beyond space and time. Really, the world is your oyster with this thing. Or at least the chair is your octopus.

Michael Sacco is a freelance editor and writer, currently working as senior editor at WoW Insider.

It wasn’t that long ago that Christmas shopping for me included two essential stops: Virgin Megastore and Tower Records. Both retail chains which had been pillars of the industry vanished overnight. And I now find myself wondering if during Christmas 2011 if the same thing will happen to Barnes & Nobel and Borders? Just as Napster and later iTunes devastated chain record shops I’m already seeing the signs that the Kindle and the iPad are delivering body blows to huge book stores.

Part of what seems to be going on is that the hardcore readers are becoming rapid adapters of eBooks. These readers are are the literacy equivalent of music snobs — they’re the folks who are reading several books a month. However I see a key difference: Music snobs tended to look down upon those poorly done mp3 files as being crude when put next to the quality of CDs, however hardcore readers don’t seem to have that issue so they’re leading the charge.

It’s because of this that I think the mega bookstores are doomed: While most of what they push upfront are books with a celebrity on the cover, it’s the army of these veracious readers who support the warehouse scale of these stores. After all if you just focused on the top 50 bestsellers you can cram that into a magazine store — you just don’t need the floorspace that goes on for miles.

As someone trained in graphic design the thought of this all breaks my heart — after all physical books are an artform to me. That said I had the exact same physical attachment to record albums, a medium that allowed a designer to create a mini-poster that could be a real work of art. My sense is that like vinyl physical books will be here to stay, but instead of being sold in mega marts you’ll see more boutique stores that specialize in subjects from cooking to comic books.

In fact I think this can usher in the next golden age of bookstores. In many ways Barnes & Nobel and Borders had a Walmart effect on mom-and-pop bookstores over the last twenty years: This could very well be pay back time for those hearty operations that survived. In fact every time I go by what use to be Tower Records I still come across Other Music which is a small hole-in-the-wall operation that carried the cool stuff that you just wouldn’t find in Tower.

I’m always happy for a geeky excuse to talk about Glee. And last time, I demanded that the writers of the show plug in a Rocky Horror Picture Show number. But now that it’s actually happening, I find myself a little skeptical about how the show that is essentially High School Musical for a slightly older set will manage to pull it off.

I’m no RHPS fanatic– I’ve watched the movie a number of times but I’m a “virgin” when it comes to going to a singalong screening or live performance. I confess, I’m a little scared off because a friend told me about his first time, which involved people throwing eggs at others. Not my idea of a good time. (Also, I don’t know all the lyrics. Horrors!)

But a whole EPISODE of Glee doing Rocky Horror? It seems to me that if you’re not going to go out of the house to do the whole big shebang, so to speak, you might as well curl up and watch Tim Curry in a corset, ’cause damn, he works it.

As for Glee, I specified that they needed to a number other than The Time Warp, but according to the Hollywood Reporter (linked earlier), that’s the song that inspired them to do the whole episode. Meh! Also, even though Kurt is the character I plugged onto Tim Curry’s body in the above picture (originally created for my previous post), I feel like it’d be a cop-out to put resident glam gay Kurt in the traditional sparkles.

Now, if they can get jackass jock Puck in a purple corset, THEN I might be impressed.

Gia Manry is a professional writer specializing in geek culture. She currently writes primarily for Anime News Network, but also likes being followed on Twitter. She can be contacted via her website.

Last week, famed comic-artist and illustrator Al Williamson passed away at the age of 79. I do find it difficult to sum up my feelings regarding his passing, but perhaps I can provide some perspective for those of you who may not already be familiar with the man. As both an artist and inker, Williamson’s work meant a great deal to both readers and fellow artists alike, and I feel it’s safe to say it has had a tremendous impact on comics as we know them today.

His work on series like the 1966 relaunch of the Flash Gordon comic series — the original franchise had been responsible for his entry into the arts back in the mid-40’s — as well as his tenure as an artist for the Blade Runner  and Star Wars comic adaptions may have captured an entire generation of science fiction readers. The man was later awarded an Eisner award for his unique and seemingly natural ability to ink and was finally inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame in 2000.

Earlier today, Michael pointed out to me that Williamson may have been one of the last surviving artists to have originally worked freelance at EC Comics — the outlet responsible for series like Tales From the Crypt, and Weird Science, which later merged with DC Comics. It’s a shame that there may be so few talented artists still around from that era. That said, Williamson only recently retired, so I’d like to think that he had lived a full and prosperous life. Simply put, it’s a great loss, and he will be missed.

Tim is a pro-blogger and freelance writer out of San Diego, California. In addition to Fanboy.com, he contributes to the ModernMethod Network of sites as the Features and Reviews Editor for the Japanese culture and entertainment blog, Japanator. He’s also an Assocaite Editor for the collectible toy culture blog, Tomopop. For more information, follow him on twitter, or check out TimSheehy.com

This is a sneak preview of the new series The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! which is coming to PBS Kids in September. The show isn’t based on the original Dr. Seuss books but an education series of books that feature the cat explaining life, the universe and everything to kids. What I like about this show is that the animation studio did a nice job of staying true to the designs of the cat in the books.

H.P. Lovecraft was great at spinning a good yarn and I think he would have been quite charmed by this little guy! This Holy Guacamole Cthulhu Baby is suitable as either a key chain or backback buddy. Designer UglyGerbil also makes a wide range of these guys available in almost every color of the Cthulhu rainbow.

Twitch recently posted this photo of a supposed Godzilla prototype from the upcoming American remake, and it’s been floating around the net for the last week. Unfortunately, popular horror site Bloody Disgusting managed to confirm that the model in question is not from the upcoming Legendary Pictures remake after all – a shame, considering how fantastic the model actually is. I’m not really sure what to expect from the upcoming remake, as the production staff behind the film are also responsible for the travesty that was Terminator: Salvation, but I do hope that they’ll give the franchise the treatment it deserves. After all, the last thing we need is another Emmerich-esque bomb.

Tim is a pro-blogger and freelance writer out of San Diego, California. In addition to Fanboy.com, he contributes to the ModernMethod Network of sites as an Associate Editor for the Japanese culture and entertainment blog, Japanator, as well as the collectible toy culture blog, Tomopop. For more information, follow him on twitter, or check out TimSheehy.com

This wonderful illustration is from a 1959 ad in Newsweek magazine for America’s Independent Electric Light and Power Companies. The headline for the ad is Your Personal “Flying Carpet” and the copy that follows sounds quite silly until you get to the last line which reminds me a great deal of the internet today:

“The time isn’t too far off, the experts say, when you’ll wash your dishes without soap or water – ultrasonic waves will do the job. Your beds will be made at the touch of a button. The kids’ homework will be made interesting when they are able to dial a library book, lecture or a classroom demonstration right into your home – with sound.”

Illustration found via Jordan Smith.

I must admit that I’m not exactly a historical fiction buff, but when I heard about Seth Grahame-Smith’s recently released novel, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, I must admit that the concept piqued my interest. Of course, it wasn’t until I stumbled across this amazing trailer for the novel that I found myself compelled to buy a copy. I’m still in the process of reading it, so I can’t comment too much on the content, aside from my assurance that it isn’t Twilight.

It’s also come to my attention that the book has been licensed for film by none other than Tim Burton. It sounds promising, but after seeing Alice in Wonderland, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t the least bit worried. Still, if it looks anything like this trailer — it probably won’t — I’ll be happy.

Tim is a pro-blogger and freelance writer out of San Diego, California. In addition to Fanboy.com, he contributes to the ModernMethod Network of sites as an Associate Editor for the Japanese culture and entertainment blog, Japanator, as well as the collectible toy culture blog, Tomopop. For more information check out TimSheehy.com

At over $200 this Nightmares of H.P. Lovecraft Dagon Statue is not for the casual fan looking for a bit of Cthulhu decoration for the library. Although looking at statues like this takes away the joy of H.P. Lovecraft for me — you see I was lucky enough to read a dusty old copy of At the Mountains of Madness and what I love about the style of writing is that it’s so packed with detail that your mind paints its own pictures. So seeing a Cthulhu hanging out in your living room takes away a bit of magic from those mountains of madness.

On paper 2010 has all of the ingredients of a great film: A story by Arthur C. Clarke, a cast that includes A+ actors like John Lithgow, Helen Mirren and Roy Scheider — and then add to that you’ve got a visual genius like Syd Mead working on the production design. Even more impressive is the fact that as a genre hard science fiction films represent a blank canvas of possibilities. Yet as a film fanboy (who loves science fiction) I hated every frame of it.

Why? Because to me the film is a slander on the memory of Stanley Kubrick, who was the real genius behind 2001: A Space Odyssey. And to me 2001 was more than just a great science fiction film — but instead it was a great film standing above a genre categorization. And that’s where 2010 goes wrong: Kubrick merely based his film on a short story by Arthur C. Clarke called The Sentinel. But the vision to take that short story to the next level was a result of the hard work that Kubrick did for years before the film was ever shot. Yes Kubrick “co-wrote” the film with Clarke — but what made it a great film was Kubrick.

In fact I’ll take this to the next stage: Even the very notion of Arthur C. Clarke writing a novel with the same name as that film was a pretentious move by Clarke to cash in on the moment. The film didn’t need a novel to make it better — the film was a great film all by itself. And what kills me is that Clarke as a creative professional should have known this. And I say this with the greatest respect to Clarke who wrote some amazing novels like Childhood’s End.

But while the genius of Kubrick was to have made great films in spite of Hollywood — Arthur C. Clarke seemed to get sucked into the intellectual void of tinsel town. And thus while Clarke had the legal rights to write the book 2010: Odyssey Two he clearly lacked the creative license to pull it off. Why? Because the genius of the film is that it’s about humanities contact with an extraterrestrial civilization — and that plot just didn’t need anything added to it to make it better. It would be like make a sequel to Citizen Kane — it’s just a morally bankrupt idea.

Above: Arthur C. Clarke appeared in one scene in the film 2010 — that’s him on the far left. It’s as if he was too embarrassed to do a proper cameo.

And even the fanboys of the 80s knew this: 2010: Odyssey Two was up for a Hugo Award for best novel in 1983. Did it win? Hell no! They gave that honor to Isaac Asimov for his schlocky sequel Foundation’s Edge. But to Asimov’s credit he was the only talent behind the Foundation series, not to mention the fact that writing a fourth act to a space opera isn’t exactly the worst thing you can do in the world.

The cover illustration of 2010: Odyssey Two by Michael Whelan

Sadly even the cover art of 2010: Odyssey Two by Michael Whelan screams Kubrick! You’ve got every visual device that he created for the film — the monolith, the starchild, the Discovery and even Jupiter which was picked because they didn’t the effects to pull off Saturn. I read the novel when it came out and it was decent enough, but frankly it was no different than any Star Trek or Star Wars novel that you might have read. So as a fan fiction author Arthur C. Clarke is pretty much as good as you can get.

But frankly Clarke knew better that this was just fan fiction — in fact this was a Hollywood pitch. A pitch for a film he knew would get made, a pitch for a film that he knew would give him gobs and gobs of cash. But it was also a film that Kubrick wouldn’t have anything to do with, because Stanley actually gave a damn about quality. By 1987 Kubrick would go on to release Full Metal Jacket and in that same year Clarke released 2061: Odyssey Three which thankfully was never made into a film.

Above: To his credit Hyams does his own cinematography, but even here he’s ripping off Kubrick.

And thus we move to the abomination of cinema that is 2010. Hollywood picked Peter Hyams to direct the flick, now Hyams is a good director but he’s not a great director. During the 80s you had directors like Ridley Scott making Blade Runner or Terry Gilliam with Brazil but Hyams just isn’t in this league. His films previous to this were Capricorn One and Outland which were fun sci fi flicks, but they weren’t brilliant. The best film that Hyam would go on to crank out was Timecop which was a great “B film” but not what I’d call a classic. Hyam makes the films that you might catch on late night cable, but not the sort of film that you’d buy the director’s cut box set of the DVD.

Above: Roy Scheider trying his best to play Dr. Heywood R. Floyd.

William Sylvester as Dr. Heywood R. Floyd

So the very foundation of 2010 starts off with bad fan fiction and an average director — and the rest of the film falls into rapid mediocrity. Roy Scheider is a good actor, but here he’s playing Dr. Heywood R. Floyd but his portrayal comes off a bit too blue collar to fill the shoes of William Sylvester. John Lithgow who shared the screen with Scheider in All That Jazz is in this film too, but he sort of seems out of place in outer space. Helen Mirren was in this film and would go on to nab an Academy Award, but her presence in 2010 seems to be wasted on the screen.

Above: John Lithgow is a great comedic actor, but was that good casting for this film?

As a result 2010 comes off as a Timecop take on 2001: A Space Odyssey. If you love science fiction you’ll watch all 116 minutes as a result, but you won’t catch yourself buying the poster on eBay if you know what I mean. In fact one might argue that 2010 is so average that it makes you realize just how good Kubrick is when it comes to filmmaking.

I half suspect that Kubrick realized this himself because he didn’t fight the film being made. In fact when Hyams contacted Kubrick for his blessing he told him:”Don’t be afraid. Just go do your own movie.” What Kubrick is really saying to Hyams is that he’s just not in the same league, it’s as if he’s taunting him with this comment but Hyams is just too thick to get the joke. And if to further miss the point that Kubrick was the genius behind 2001 Hyams invested a great deal of time corresponding with Clarke when working on the script.

Above: Yes this is an actual frame from the film 2010! I’m not kidding you…

To his credit Hyams did the best movie he could, but his best efforts produced an average film. And looking back at the 80s you can see that Kubrick sort of had his revenge — you have a decade when so many amazing science fiction films were made, but 2010 just isn’t one of them. And where 2001 ended with a mind blowing first contact experience, Hyams leaves us with the lackluster warning that humans shouldn’t go messing Europa:

“ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE. USE THEM TOGETHER. USE THEM IN PEACE.”

P.S. I think the Aliens were really warning Hollywood to not make a third film and leave well enough alone…

Above: The one good thing about this film was that poor Keir Dullea got a payday out of it — sadly after this film he didn’t do too much except land roles in Murder, She Wrote and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

There’s only a few days left before Christmas, but if you’re still doing your shopping please consider supporting your local independent bookstore or comic book shop. The recession has hit these folks hard and they need your love more now than ever before. Of course if there’s only a big chain bookstore near you, please go there as you’ll be helping the publishing business as a whole as well as giving the gift of reading.

You know each year as fanboys and fangurls we vote with our dollars, so when you help a small publisher or an indie bookstore you’re encouraging a more diverse marketplace. Sadly so much of publishing is dominated by stars who put their picture on a cover to sell copies, and this has the sad impact of pushing those books that have something interesting to say off the shelves.

So if you hate homogenized media take your time to make a difference this season. The side benefit of this is that books make great gifts as you can match them to the personality of the person whom you’re giving a gift to. In fact the person doesn’t even need to be a veracious reader as there are plenty of coffee table books to please the eye. So please spread the love that is bibliomania…