SF&F In Print & On Screen
STICKIED POST After much debate (and some requests) I have signed up with crowdfunding service Patreon to better support future blogging efforts. You can find my Patreon page here and more information after the jump. What is Patreon? Patreon is a crowdfunding site that allows people to support their favourite bloggers, authors, artists and creators, from as little as $1 a month. What do people get…
Commander Samuel Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch has faced down some of the greatest perils anyone can think of: dragons, guns, magic, time travel and Ankh-Morpork street food. But now he faces a challenge that he cannot escape, avoid or resist through force: a holiday. Relocating to the Ramkin rural estate, Vimes has to relax, eat good food and perform other hideous tasks like socialising,…
Elder Scrolls fans have become a patient breed, with developers Bethesda clocking in almost fifteen years since the release of the last mainline game in the series, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim . Skyrim has sold over 60 million copies to become one of the best-selling individual video games of all time, so fans are understandably antsy over when the sequel will be released. Bethesda did confirm way…
Winter has ended, and Lady Whent of Harrenhal has called a great tournament to celebrate. The great and the good from the Seven Kingdoms are attending, most notable amongst them Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, the entire Stark family bar their father, and Lord Robert Baratheon, lately come to his seat after the tragic death of his parents at sea. Robert is due to meet his betrothed, Lyanna Stark, the…
Wilson Fisk's reign as New York mayor continues, but Daredevil is determined to expose his criminal connections and bring him down, with the help of allies including Karen Page and Jessica Jones. With Daredevil on the run and Fisk protected by mechanisms both legal and illicit, the odds are stacked against the Devil of Hell's Kitchen as never (well, rarely) before. After Daredevil 's original…
Legislation has barred people with special powers from working in Hollywood, a rule enforced by the Department of Damage Control. When they suspect that up-and-coming actor Simon Williams has secret powers, they recruit ex-Mandarin actor Trevor Slattery to befriend him and learn the truth. Slattery is at first keen to help in return for money and his freedom, but as he gets to know Williams and…
The sun is dying, being feasted on by tiny lifeforms based on Venus. The phenomenon, the "astrophage," is not unique: every star within dozens of light-years of Sol is suffering the same malaise...except one: Tau Ceti. With Earth's habitability in danger in a matter of decades, the countries of the world unite to send a near-lightspeed ship, powered by the same tiny lifeforms, to Tau Ceti to…
Several months have passed since the rather memorable first night on the job for Cloudpunk delivery driver Rania. She is still ticking along, doing her thing, when another crazy night starts. Before sunrise, Rania will become an illicit street racer, renewed her contacts with the movers and shakers of the city, and become the target for a relentless assassin. City of Ghosts is the expansion to the…
The planet Eternia is invaded and conquered by the armies of the evil warlord Skeletor. Young Prince Adam is sent into a portal by the Sorceress of Eternia to safeguard him and the Sword of Power, but he loses the Sword mid-transit. Arriving on Earth, he spends fifteen years searching for the Sword. He finally locates it, but finds the war has followed him to his adopted homeworld. Returning to…
In May 1996, eager fantasy fans in the UK hit their local bookstore to pick up the seventh and latest Wheel of Time novel in hardcover. Robert Jordan's giga-series ruled the roost in fantasy sales, only beaten in the UK by homegrown legend Terry Pratchett and his Discworld saga (which had two entries in 1996, Pratchett not being one to hang around). But fans picking up the brick-thick tome could…
The Wertzone News S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Cost of Hope launches on 20 August Amazon's Warhammer 40,000 project recruits Mike Flanagan Bethesda confirm Fallout remasters and new games from themselves and Obsidian Entertainment First trailer for Dune: Part Three released VERY STRONG RUMOUR: Obsidian Entertainment to develop a new Fallout game Avatar: The Last Airbender sequel movie gets a trailer Nivalis…
They've left it a bit late, but GSC Game World has revealed the release date for their Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl expansion, Cost of Hope . The expansion launches on 20 August, or in just over three weeks' time. STALKER 2 launched in late 2024 and was a very good time, despite janky launch bugs and some questionable AI, not to mention a somewhat-sluggish implementation of Unreal Engine 5. A…
Amazon has brought modern horror-meister Mike Flanagan on board with its long-gestating Warhammer 40,000 screen universe project. Flanagan will be working with producer-star-geek ambassador Henry Cavill in getting the project onto the screen. As related previously, Amazon and Games Workshop entered talks in late 2022 to bring the Warhammer 40,000 IP to the screen across multiple projects,…
The Eastern Reach is beset by a terrible curse: children are being born without souls, becoming known as the Hollowborn. The arrival of a Watcher, an individual able to reach out and touch souls and discover their former lives, may hold the key to resolving the crisis. The Watcher must travel the length and breadth of the Eastern Reach, from the great city of Defiance Bay to the mountains of the…
Tiffany Aching is almost sixteen and is now a respected witch across the Chalk. She is taken aback when the death of a local dignitary seems to spark off a burst of hatred and fear towards witches. Her investigation reveals the return of an ancient force of evil, which unleashes bigotry and invective even from mild-mannered people, even from Tiffany's oldest friends and allies. Fortunately the Nac…
Bethesda have issued a major update on their game projects and franchises, confirming that they are deep in development on Elder Scrolls VI , in pre-production on Fallout 5 and are partnering with Obsidian Entertainment on a new Fallout game. They also confirm that remasters for both Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas are in development. There's quite a lot packed into the update. They confirm that…
June 1969. The Soviet Union stuns the world when cosmonaut Alexei Leonov becomes the first man to walk on the Moon. The Americans, whose own effort is just a few weeks away, are infuriated. The Soviets plan to surprise them again with a second mission to put the first woman on the moon, but their plans are thrown off when their chosen cosmonaut is accused of treason. Cosmonaut Anastasia Belikova…
Warner Brothers have unveiled the first trailer for Dune: Part Three . Directed and co-written by Denis Villeneuve, the film adapts the second novel in Frank Herbert's Dune series, Dune Messiah (1969). The story takes place some years after the events of the first two movies, with Paul Atreides ruling the galaxy as the Emperor. To solidify his power, he has unleashed the Fremen of Arrakis in a…
As has been widely reported elsewhere, Microsoft have embarked on a massive restructuring of their video game business. Thousands of staff are to be laid off and around five studios are to be sold or spun off into independent businesses. Even the company's more successful studios are being reconfigured, with Obsidian Entertainment re-tasked to help Microsoft focus on its most successful IP. To…
A trailer has been released for the incoming new Avatar: The Last Airbender animated film. Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender is the first animated project to be released by Avatar Studios. Headed up by original Avatar: The Last Airbender creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael DiMartino, they are currently working on three films and a new TV series, Avatar: Seven Havens , with the latter due to air in…
An unstoppable killer android has decided it doesn't really want to do all that murdering any more and has decided to strike out on its own, with a personal mission to stay low and watch as much TV as possible. But the self-styled "Murderbot" is drawn into a survey mission on a planet that goes wrong, and discovers that keeping its identity a secret is going to be very difficult. Murderbot is an…
For many years the game of foot-the-ball has been played in the back alleys of Ankh-Morpork, with teams formed from street communities coming together in sporting comradeship (involving violence and pies, not necessarily in that order). But the game is starting to turn ugly, and in the spirit of maintaining civic order, the Patrician has decided to make the game legitimate, with…
Ion Lands have revealed the release date and new name for their long-heralded futuristic game Nivalis . Now retitled Nivalis Nights , the game will hit Steam on 29 September this year. They have also released a new trailer for the game. The game is a spiritual successor to their 2020 title Cloudpunk , which saw the player driving a flying taxi cab around the city of Nivalis and gradually getting…
Widow's Bay is a picturesque island off the coast of New England, with wonderful sea views and friendly locals. Mayor Tom Loftis is determined to make Widow's Bay the "new Martha's Vineyard," by getting a feature in a national newspaper and website. But a great many locals are convinced the island is cursed, to Tom's disgust. The tolling of the church bell for the first time in decades and the…
Russell T. Davies has confirmed that his second stint as Doctor Who showrunner has come to an end after four years, two seasons and five specials. Bad Wolf Productions are also ending their association with the franchise, and the BBC is now looking for a new production partner and showrunner to take the show forwards. As a result, the planned 2026 Christmas special has been cancelled. It's fair to…