SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
NEWS & RUMORS
We always have our "ears to the ground"
at FutureFiction.com so we can keep you apprised of late breaking
developments in the science fiction and fantasy genres. The newest items
are posted at the top of the page. If you have any information that you
think we should post, please send it to news@futurefiction.com.
Lord of the Rings Fast
Approaching (10/29/01)
The first installment of the Lord of
the Rings movie trilogy will hit theatres in the U.S. on December 19th,
2001. Check out the official LOTR
site to view movie trailers, photos and to join the fan club. And check
out our favorite news and rumors site at www.theonering.net.
Harry Potter Gets Political (8/21/00)
What goes best with political humor
in an election year? Harry Potter of course! Click here
to see 14 pages of Harry Potter political cartoons courtesy of MSN.
Star Wars Episode 2 - Bluer than
Blue (8/21/00)
Former NYPD Blue star Jimmy
Smits has been tapped for Star Wars Episode 2 now filming in
Australia. Lucasfilm confirmed that Jimmy will play Bail Organa, Leia's
adoptive father from the doomed planet of Alderaan. Considering Smits
almost total disappearance from the media radar since his ill-conceived decision
to leave NYPD Blue, this role can only help his floundering career.
Luckiest Person on the Planet?
Has to be Daniel Radcliffe (8/21/00)
Daniel who? 11 year old Daniel
Radcliffe will soon be known to millions of movie goers worldwide.
Why? Because the little known British actor (last seen portraying David Copperfield on the BBC) has just landed the title role in the Harry Potter
movie. Check out Warner Bros. official Harry Potter site by clicking here.
Back the Brinks truck up to the Radcliffe residence and let the hype commence!
Can't Get Enough Shannara? Try E-mail! (7/15/00)
Terry Brooks' new Shannara novel
entitled The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara: Ilse Witch is slated for a
September 5th release. But for those who can't get enough Shannara, a
special short story featuring a classic Shannara character will be distributed
via e-mail to all interested parties on October 6th. Go to the official Shannara
web site to sign up!
Christopher Lee is a Busy Man (7/15/00)
Christopher Lee, who appeared in last
year's Sleepy Hollow and a raft of 50's and 60's horror movies with Peter
Cushing, has been tapped to be in Star Wars: Episode 2. It is
unclear whether he will be on the dark side or the light side of the force.
Episode 2 is currently in
production in Australia, which is lucky for Lee. He is also appearing as
Saruman the White in the upcoming Lord of the Rings Trilogy. LOR is
currently filming in New Zealand, just a 3 hour flight across the Tasman Sea
from Australia.
Jake Lloyd Definitely Being Considered for Ender's Game
Movie Starring Role (6/23/00)
Orson Scott Card has met with Jake
Lloyd (best known for his role as Anakin Skywalker in the Phantom Menace) and
changed his movie script based on the meeting. Lloyd had expressed an
interest in playing the role of Ender Wiggin in the movie based on the novel Ender's
Game and Card appears enthusiastic about the prospect. For an
interesting perspective on the script development, written by Card himself,
click here.
R. A. Salvatore Tapped to Write
Star Wars Episode 2 Novel (6/22/00)
R. A. Salvatore has been selected to
write the Star Wars Episode 2 novel, which should be based on the script by
George Lucas. The setting is 10 years after the action in Episode 1.
Anakin, now 19, is beset by his own personal demons while Obi-Wan Kenobi tries
valiantly to train his apprentice and keep him from turning to the Dark Side. Salvatore got his feet wet in the Star Wars genre by writing
Vector Prime, a well crafted effort that proved Salvatore had mastered the Star
Wars universe.
Lucas in Australia to Begin
Shooting Star Wars Episode 2 (6/22/00)
George Lucas has arrived in Oz to
take command of the production of the next installment in the Star Wars movie
series. Shooting is scheduled to start on June 26th and wrap the end of
August. Then it's off to Tunusia and Italy for another month of shooting.
Dune Mini-series in the
Can...Slated for December 2000 Airing (6/22/00)
The 6 hour mini-series based on the
Frank Herbert novel Dune has wrapped up shooting in Prague. The
three-part series will be shown in December 2000 on the Sci-Fi channel.
William Hurt (Duke Leto) and a cast of unknowns will hopefully turn in a better
performance than the pitiful acting seen in the motion picture based on the
novel.
Brooks Sells Rights to Magic
Kingdom For Sale: Sold! (6/22/00)
Terry Brooks has sold the rights to
make movies about Magic Kingdom For Sale: Sold to 20th Century Fox for an
undisclosed sum. Although the rights cover the entire Magic Kingdom
series, only the first book is being talked about at this point. The movie
may never be made, but for now, Brooks remains hopeful.
Release Date Set for New Shannara
Novel (5/9/00)
Del Rey has announced that the
release date for Terry Brooks' new novel in the Shannara series will be September
5, 2000. Mark your calendars!
New Novel In Ender's Game Series
in the Works (5/1/00)
Orson Scott Card is working on a new
novel in the Ender's Game series. Shadow of the Hegemon takes place
directly after the action in his latest book Ender's Shadow. Ender Wiggin
will not appear in this book. Instead the action will focus on Bean, Petra
and Ender's older brother Peter. The leaders of Earth realizing that these
children are some of the brightest military minds in the galaxy will scheme to
convert them to their causes. Publication is scheduled for January 2001.
Still Wondering About Darth
Maul? Help is on the Way! (4/12/00)
Still wondering about the origins of
Darth Maul? Well, get in line! Many people were perplexed by the
lack of information on Darth Maul in the Episode I movie and novel. But
fear not, Lucasbooks and Del Rey books are riding to the rescue with a prequel
novel that will explain the origins of the Sith lord. Science fiction
writer Michael Reaves has been engaged to pen the as yet untitled novel.
Expect it to land in book stores in May 2001.
No Need to Throw Benefit for
Steven King (3/27/00)
Poor Steven King. He stands to
make a paltry $450,000 from Riding the Bullet, the 66 page short story he
published on the Internet earlier this month. Despite tremendous delays
some fans experienced when downloading the story, more than 400,000 copies were
sold in the first 24 hours (at $2.50 each). King says he would have made
only about $10,000 from the story if he sold it for publication to a periodical
such as Playboy or New Yorker.
Despite this success, King remains
skeptical of the Internet as a medium for selling his works since he feels the
Internet is still too slow and too difficult for many fans to use. King
himself was prevented from downloading a copy of his own story since it was only
offered in PC format and he uses a Macintosh! Despite his misgivings, King
says developing a serial novel for distribution over the web would be the next
logical step.
Pern TV Series is
"Dragon" (3/27/00)
Don't look for the TV series based on
Anne McCaffrey's The Dragonriders of Pern novel anytime soon.
Alliance Atlantis Television, who was supposed to be bankrolling the project has
let their rights to it lapse, according to Eric Weymueller, executive
producer. Weymueller and his company zyntroPICS are now seeking another
financial partner to get the series off the ground.
Weymueller also said that Ubi Soft
will be releasing a video game based on the Pern novels for Sega's
Dreamcast gaming platform and the PC. The game is expected to debut at the
Electronic Entertainment Expo in LA in May and should be available for sale in
September or October of 2000.
Lucas Needs to go to Light
Speed Soon (3/27/00)
Pre-production work for Star Wars
Episode II is now in full swing. Shooting is slated to begin in Australia
this summer. However, contrary to popular rumors that have been
circulating, George Lucas has not yet finished writing the screenplay for
Episode II. Lucas says that the basic story and characters are in place
but he is still filling in the details of supporting characters, action and
dialog.
Movie Treatment Under
Development for Ursula K. LeGuin's The Farthest Shore
(3/27/00)
Screenwriter James Robinson (Starman)
is reportedly developing a screenplay for The Farthest Shore by Ursula K.
LeGuin. Shore is the third novel in the Earthsea series.
Apparently, the film is being developed for the Jim Henson company.
Marion Zimmer Bradley's The
Mists of Avalon To Become TV Miniseries (3/22/00)
TNT is producing a 4 hour miniseries
based on Bradley's book The Mists of Avalon. Telling the legend of Camelot
through the eyes of the women behind the throne, it will star Angelica Huston as
Viviane, the Lady of the Lake and ER's Julianna Margulies as Arthur's sister
Morgaine. Filming is set to start in April 2000 in Prague with an air date
sometime in 2001.
Who the Heck Is James Oliver
Rigney, Jr. and Why Should I Care? (3/22/00)
James Oliver Rigney, Jr. is the real
name of one of the most successful fantasy authors of all time! He has never
written a book under his real name even though he has a wildly popular series
that has fans hammering his publisher for more books. Figured it out yet? Yep,
his alter ego is none other than Robert Jordan. Locus magazine has an interview
with him in their March 2000 issue and has published excerpts from the interview
on the net. Click here
to check it out.
Harry Potter Runs Afoul of His Most Nefarious Foes Yet...Lawyers!
(3/22/00)
J. K. Rowling, author of the popular Harry Potter books, is being sued for
plagiarism by an American author named Nancy K. Stouffer. A spokesman for
Scholastic, Rowling's publisher says the suit is "completely meritless."
However, there do appear to be some striking similarities between Stouffer's
work and the Harry Potter books.
In 1984, Stouffer published The Legend of Rah and Muggles, a children's
fantasy book. A muggle, in Harry Potter parlance, is a non-magic user (ordinary
human). In Stouffer's work, they are Lilliputian little people. The book also
contains the characters Larry Potter and Lilly Potter and characters called
Keepers of the Gardens. Aside from the obvious Harry/Larry comparison, Rowling's
work contains a character named Lily (only one "l") Potter and a
character called Keeper of the Keys.
Stouffer's book was distributed mainly on the East Coast of the United States
in Giant supermarkets and Rite-Aid drugstores. Rowling participated in a
work-study exchange program in Baltimore in 1987 and 1988 and could possibly
have seen Stouffer's work then. Coincidences? Who the heck knows. The courts may
get to decide, but an out-of-court settlement would be more likely (in my humble
opinion). We'll keep you posted.
J. K. Rowling Named Author of the
Year (2/7/00)
J. K. Rowling, author of the wildly
popular Harry Potter books for young adults, has been named author of the year
by the British Book Awards. She defeated five other contenders for the
honor including horror writer Stephen King. Congratulations, Ms.
Rowling! Check out our reviews of the Harry Potter books by clicking here.
NBC to Develop Wheel of Time
Miniseries? (2/7/00)
NBC is allegedly negotiating for the
rights to make The Eye of the World, the first volume in Robert Jordan's Wheel
of Time series, into a mini series. This baffles me since The Eye
of the World is not a stand alone novel, but rather the first volume in the
longest series of novels I've ever seen. Although I enjoyed Eye, I
really don't think it would make a particularly good mini-series since it merely
sets the stage for the next eight volumes of the series. I believe NBC and
the viewing public would be better served if NBC bought the rights to a
stand-alone novel such as Orson Scott Card's Enchantment.
I'd definitely tune in for that one!
Who Wants 10 Million Star Wars
Books?...Cheap! (1/31/00)
The Associated Press reports that a
colossal gaffe has resulted in the resignation of the CEO of the British
publisher Dorling Kindersley. The company grossly overestimated their
ability to sell Star Wars books in the UK. They published 13 million
copies of Star Wars: Episode I Incredible Cross-Sections and Star Wars: The
Visual Dictionary. Unfortunately, they were only able to sell 3
million copies. The blunder accounts for half of the $41 million pre-tax
loss that the publisher expects to report in the Spring. If you want a
real challenge, send in your resume!
Battlefield Earth Movie Prequel
and Sequel in the Offing? (1/31/00)
As we previously reported, L. Ron
Hubbard's book Battlefield Earth is being made into a movie that will be
released on May 12th of this year. However, rumors are that a script is
being developed for a prequel which could be in production even before the
release of the Battlefield Earth film. Talk about blind optimism!
Could be an expensive proposition if Battlefield Earth is not a box office
success.
Author Kurt Vonnegut Hospitalized
After Fire Breaks Out in His Home (1/31/00)
Kurt Vonnegut was hospitalized for
smoke inhalation yesterday after fire broke out in his Manhattan home.
Vonnegut, 77, was taken from his home on a gurney while being given oxygen by
paramedics. He appears to be fine, but will remain hospitalized for
several days as a precaution. No one else was injured in the fire.
Lord of the Rings Movies
Filming in New Zealand (1/25/00)
Three movies based on J. R. R.
Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy are currently being filmed in New
Zealand. The first movie, based on The Fellowship of the Ring,
is due in theatres in the fall of 2001. Major stars are being tapped to
play key roles in these movies including:
