The newest Stargate novel from Fandemonium is here. You may want to have your sunglasses nearby when you get your hands on it!

Stargate SG-1: Sunrise is actually written by two authors. Sally Malcolm and Laura Harper. Malcolm is known among Stargate fans for writing the SG-1 novels, A Matter of Honor and its sequel, The Cost of Honor. These two were among my favorite of the seventeen SG-1 novels to date. The story was compelling and the description was stunning. She also wrote “Gift of the Gods”, a Big Finish audio novel performed by Michael Shanks. “An Eye for an Eye,” Big Finish’s next SG-1 project voiced by Michael and Claudia Black, is highly anticipated. Harper, by contrast, is entirely new to novel writing, and I think it shows in Sunrise. The two authors together chose to take a pen name, J.F. Crane. For the sake of simplicity, I’m going to refer to the author as Crane.

Sunrise is a story that follows directly after the SG-1 season 4 episode “Beneath the Surface,” and attempts to play on the psychological effects the memory stamps left on the team. The stamps gave them fake lives, new names, and the belief that they were working hard underground feeding and maintaining heating systems so their people can survive an ice age. The success of Crane’s attempt to use those events is debatable. This isn’t the first time where a novel has played off of the residual effects of a particular episode of the series, and it certainly won’t be the last. However, if I was trying to write one such novel, “Beneath the Surface” would not be among my top choices. Honestly, there are episodes that would have a much stronger influence on SG-1. What’s a little memory stamp compared to getting killed and then brought back to life by the Nox? What about having their memories altered by Nem in “Fire and Water”, convincing the team that Daniel Jackson was dead so they left him behind?

The aftereffects of “Beneath the Surface” would have been much more convincing if each character had been equally effected. Of the four, Jack O’Neill and Sam Carter seemed the most shaken by the experience, while Teal’c and Daniel never appear to dwell on the experience at all. Does anyone else think this is odd? The two trained military personnel are the ones that are hesitating and second guessing their actions because of the remnants of a fake personality in their minds? As Sam said in “Hathor” (another episode that would give an author a wealth of phycological damage to play with), Jack is Special Forces trained to resist mind control. So why should the memory of Jonah, a man opposite to his nature in oh so many ways, hold Jack up? He is hardly the kind to linger on such things. He is far more likely to dismiss it as the mind games of a sycophant and block it from his mind, especially while off world.  Read the rest of this entry »

Find out More About JoeLanta!

JoeLanta: Toys and More

JoeLanta is the annual GI Joe action figure and toy show in Atlanta.   It is held every spring to celebrate GI Joe toys, culture and dioramas. Proceeds support the Cody Lane Foundation.

The convention comes in two parts: special events, and the Toy Show:

• March 19, 2011:  JoeLanta Special Events
• March 20,2011:  JoeLanta Toy Show show

Space Gypsies will be on hand to monitor the excitement and provide reports from this unique convention.

Hotel

The Marriott Century Center
2000 Century Center Blvd. NE,
Atlanta, GA 30345
(404) 325-0000

Tickets

• Adults $6
• Kids 12 & Under $5
• kids under 5 FREE

Website
http://joelanta.com

The Cody Lane Foundation
After a long battle with a degenerative neurological disorder called CIDP,  Cody Martin Lane passed away on August 23, 2007.  An avid collector and member of the Atlanta GI Joe Collectors Club, he was  only 17.

Cody collected many types of action figures, from Civil War heroes to Lord of the Rings characters to, of course, GI Joes. He was particularly fond of the dioramas designed and built by the Joe Club members. After his passing, the Atlanta GI Joe Club decided to create a museum in honor of Cody’s favorite art form: the diorama. Proceeds from the museum go towards the foundation to create this museum.

Internet Meme Gets His Own Flavor of Premium Soda

With AnachroCon just around the corner, Carnival Epsilon contacted SpaceGypsies to let us know that they have a special treat for AnachroCon attendees: a black-cherry soda that is inspired by fan favorite, Steampunk Boba Fett.  Part of the Epislon’s Elixer’s line of beverages, Boba’s Blend will be premiering at AnachroCon.

The man behind the Steampunk Mandalorian, John Strangeway, said that he is overjoyed to be honored this way. “I love having my own soda,”  he said.  “It is not something I ever considered, but when they approached me with the idea I was all for it.”

The Steampunk Boba Fett costume was originally conceived by Strangeway, a long time Boba Fett cosplayer. “Oh, yeah…I have pictures of me wearing home made Boba Fett costumes in High School, ” Strangeway explained.  “I wanted something Steampunk and Star Wars.  I really wanted a Steampunk Boba Fett costume, but would not have been able to create one of this caliber myself.  The folks at Penny Dreadful Productions were able to craft a costume beyond my expectations.”

Strangeway was so impressed with the final result that he is now part of the Penny Dreadful team.  “Matt Silva and Erin Bushko of Penny Dreadful lead the creation of the costume with the help of the rest of the team.  Now I wear it to promote Penny Dreadful Productions at Conventions. ” The costume has been featured on prominent internet sites as well as the 2010 documentary, Four Days at Dragon*Con.

Carnival Epsilon is more than just a brewer of premium soda, they are indeed a real carnival.  Their motto is “Doing the extraordinary with the ordinary.”  Traveling throughout the convention circuit, Carnival Epsilon is a classic circus sideshow.  They incorporate the traditional skills of sword swallowing, glass eating, walking on swords, and many more activities that just plain sound painful to endure, but delightful to view.

The Boba’s Blend will be available at AnachroCon, where Carnival Epsilon will be performing.

For more information, visit :

• Penny Dreadful

• AnachroCon

• Carnival Epsilon (See them At AnachroCon!)

Stargate Atlantis: Homecoming is the first in planned Legacy series of six books that set a new precedent for the Stargate franchise. Written by co-authors Jo Graham and Melissa Scott, Homecoming is the first published Stargate book to be purposely set after the series ended, picking up right where it left off and continuing the story. For those desperate for the Atlantis movie to be green-lit, this novel and the continuation of the Legacy series may provide something to sustain them. The sales of the Legacy series may also help to get the production of the movie underway.

As a fan of Atlantis, I think a Legacy series is a wonderful idea. It has limitless possibilities, even though it does present some problems. In the past, all Stargate novels, be it based on SG-1 or Atlantis, were set between episodes of the series. This forced the writers to adhere to certain rules. For instance, you can’t kill John Sheppard because he is in the next episode of the series. Or at least if you kill him you have to bring him back and in perfect health. You also can’t give the Lanteans some huge advantage over the Wraith, like a super weapon or five ZPMs, unless you are going to take it all away by the end of the book. If you don’t, your story won’t fit in with the rest of the series.

The Atlantis Legacy series has no such rules to follow. Writers have free reign. They can kill anyone they want, they can pair characters any way they wish, and they can create any scenarios they wish without having to worry about the fallout of their actions. This makes the books every bit as exciting as the series because for once you can’t say to yourself, “But he has got to be alive! They can’t kill him because this is set in season 3 and he’s still alive now!” Now there’s no way to know, and that in itself should make it impossible to put the book down!

However, this freedom could also rule the series out as canon some day. When an Atlantis movie is finally produced – and I say “when” because I refuse to believe that it will never happen – it could contradict the series right from the get go. In the movie, maybe Atlantis isn’t allowed to leave Earth. It would be hard to believe, but it could happen, and if it does, then Homecoming and it’s sequals would all be against series canon. Plenty of fans may not care, and they will certainly find it an enjoyable read anyway, but it will have lost sone of its relevance in the series. Despite this, the risk is well worth taking because the story of Atlantis has been left hanging far too long as it is.

The title “Homecoming” says a lot about this novel, given where Stargate Atlantis left off. The Ancient city is sitting cloaked in the San Francisco Bay. Todd the Wraith is still in a holding cell.  Richard Woolsey, John Sheppard, and his team have to fight a diplomatic battle against the IOA to be allowed to take Atlantis back where it belongs, the Pegasus galaxy. They aren’t without allies. General Jack O’Neill and Colonel Samantha Carter are there joining the fight, one that goes all the way to the White House. Though his name was never given, President Barak Obama is easily recognizable, and his stance on Atlantis’ future is interesting to say the least. As the story gets even closer to home, the very real economic troubles and the war against terror currently faced by the world are cited as obstacles that prevent Atlantis’ immediate departure. Ironic, isn’t it? Economic problems are also preventing the Atlantis movie from getting off the ground. Was this Graham and Scott’s attempt to remind fans of how the real world can have an effect on the fiction we love? If it was, the message is not lost on this fan.

As I dive a little deeper into the story, you many find minor spoilers. You have been warned! Read the rest of this entry »

Calling all Steampunk fans!!! Abney Park, one of the best Steampunk bands out there, needs your help!

Last night fans received this message from our beloved Captain Robert:

“Two years ago, we were putting the finishing touches on our album Aether Shanties, and our studio computer had a melt down. I came into the studio and found a blue screen of death waiting for me. Because of this crash we lost countless amazing recordings and performances, and I had to spend hundreds of dollars on bringing the guest musicians back to re-record their parts, etc. We basically had to rerecord the album again from scratch.

Since we are but poor wandering musicians, we basically patched that computer back together with some duck tape, and an old piece of chewing gum we found stuck to the bottom of one of Nathaniel’s boots.

It held together, sort of…until just before our latest album, The End of Days, was done. The computer started showing errors again, slowing down, rebooting took several attempts…and it finally crashes again! But this time, it crashed just AFTER I sent it to the mastering producer- after we were done.

So I’ve started writing the next album, and the computer is crashing AGAIN. All day, every day. So we’ve got to do something!”

This is where you, the fans come in! Abney Park is having a ONE WEEK sale to raise money for a new studio computer. What are they offering?

• For every purchase made from January 10th until January 16th, Captain Robert will send you a coupon for one free album download!


• Captain Robert and Kristina will autograph every CD sold this week at no additional charge! Autographed CDs usually sell for $30 or more from their site. It’s an amazing opportunity to get a full set of Abney Park autographed CDs!

What if you have all the Abney Park stuff you could ever want? Well my friend, you can still help out by making a donation HERE.

If you want to see Abney Park live check out their upcoming shows: Voyages Extraordinaires, February 12th in San Diego, California and  Wild West Con, March 4th to 6th in Tucson, Arizona! If you haven’t seen Abney Park live you don’t know what a fantastic show you’re missing!