This Week at the JCC

April 16, 2016 at 6:29 pm

We have a big week coming at the Jean Cocteau Cinema.

ERNIE CLINE will be here tomorrow (Sunday) for an interview and booksigning. He’ll be talking about the film adaptation of READY PLAYER ONE, and signing copies of ARMADA, his new one… and READY PLAYER ONE as well, of course. For more details, see Jenni’s post below.

The next day, Monday night, we’ll show the last two hours in our season five marathon of GAME OF THRONES. That’s “Hardhome” and “Mother’s Mercy,” two huge episodes. If you haven’t seen “Hardhome” on the big (well, medium sized) screen, you haven’t seen it at all. And best of all, admission is FREE. First come, first seated. Don’t be late.

And we another special event scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday. For TWO DAYS ONLY, we will be screening the new Project Itoh anime blockbuster out of Japan, EMPIRE OF CORPSES.

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Only a few selected theatres in the US will be showing EMPIRE OF CORPSES. We’re very pleased that the JCC will be one of them. Come join us — and remember, this special screening is for two nights only.

Then, come Saturday, we’re thrilled to announced that our midnight movies are returning. First up will be FLASH GORDON. No, not the old Buster Crabbe serial (and not FLESH GORDON either), but the Sam Jones version from 1980. Brian Blessed and Ming the Merciless, what more could you want?

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Come in costume, you pathetic earthlings.

See you at the movies.

Tags: jean cocteau cinema, movies, signings

Jean Cocteau Book Sale! #GRRMinion

April 14, 2016 at 8:04 pm

Ogre Jenni speaking! I am one of George's minions, and I work for Jean Cocteau Cinema in Santa Fe. It is a delightful place! If you are ever in Santa Fe, you simply must visit. We have a full bar with a variety of signature cocktails, we host magic shows and book signings, and every last tome in our bookstore is autographed by the author.

Speaking of books, the Jean Cocteau Cinema bookstore is having a sale! The following books are 35% off—check it out!

Neal Stephenson's The System of the World: NOW $11.00

England, 1714. London has long been home to a secret war between the brilliant, enigmatic Master of the Mint and closet alchemist, Isaac Newton, and his archnemesis, the insidious counterfeiter Jack the Coiner. Hostilities are suddenly moving to a new and more volatile level as Half-Cocked Jack hatches a daring plan, aiming for the total corruption of Britain's newborn monetary system. Learn more!

Deborah Harkness' The Book of Life: NOW $18.85

Fans of the All Souls Trilogy sent this highly anticipated finale straight to #1 on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list. Diana and Matthew time-travel back from Elizabethan London to make a dramatic return to the present—facing new crises and old enemies. At Matthew’s ancestral home, Sept-Tours, they reunite with the beloved cast of characters from A Discovery of Witches—with one significant exception. But the real threat to their future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on even more urgency. Learn more!

Anne Perry's Death on Blackheath: NOW $17.55

As commander of the powerful Special Branch, Thomas Pitt has the job of keeping Britain safe from spies and traitors. So there’s no obvious reason why he is suddenly ordered to investigate two minor incidents: the blood, hair, and shards of glass discovered outside the home of naval weapons expert Dudley Kynaston, and the simultaneous disappearance of Mrs. Kynaston’s beautiful lady’s maid. But weeks later, when the mutilated body of an unidentified young woman is found near Kynaston’s home, Pitt realizes that this is no ordinary police investigation. Far from it. Is Kynaston—one of Britain’s most valuable scientists—leading a double life? Learn more!

Meg Cabot's Remembrance: NOW $10.40

Fifteen years after the release of the first Mediator novel, #1 New York Times bestselling author Meg Cabot returns with a deliciously sexy new entry to a fan-favorite series. Suze Simon—all grown up and engaged to her once-ghostly soulmate—faces a vengeful spirit and an old enemy bent on ending Suze's wedded bliss before it begins. Learn more!

See you at the Cocteau!

—THIS MESSAGE WAS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE MINIONS OF FEVRE RIVER—

Tags: anne perry, bookstore, death on blackheath, deborah harkness, jean cocteau cinema, meg cabot, neal stephenson, remembrance, the book of life, the system of the world

The Wild Cards Take Brazil

April 14, 2016 at 7:25 pm

All you Wild Cards fans out there… and those of you who will be (we hope) soon… should head over to Tor.com and meet the newest ace in the WC universe. The Recycler hails from the slums of Rio, and we think you’re going to like him as much as we do.

The story is “Discards.” The Hugo-winning author is David D. Levine.

(The art is by the one and only John Picacio).

You can read “Discards” for free here: http://www.tor.com/2016/03/30/discards/

(And if you like that one, there are five other Wild Cards originals available on Tor.com, by the likes of Walter Jon Williams, Carrie Vaughn, Paul Cornell, Cherie Priest, and Daniel Abraham. Seek and ye shall find. Jetboy did not die in vain!)

Tags: short stories, tor, wild cards

Season Six Premiere

April 13, 2016 at 5:28 pm

GAME OF THRONES had its gala season six premiere last week in Hollywood, at the historic and glorious Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.

The rest of the world will have to wait until April 24 to see the first episode.

But here’s the latest trailer from HBO:

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Tags: game of thrones, hbo, television

Help Fight Cancer

April 11, 2016 at 7:33 pm

R.A. Salvatore has organized a “Bookworm” drive to help fund cancer research.

Donate… and you can maybe win a big box o’ signed books, including some of my own.

Only a few days left.

You can see all the details, and make a donation, at:

http://www.seecaityrun.com/bookworms-unite/

Tags: charity, signed books

Jean Cocteau Cinema Hosts Q&A with Ernest Cline #GRRMinion

April 7, 2016 at 11:12 am

Ogre Jenni here (not George, just a minion) with a very special announcement!

Ernest Cline, author of Ready Player One and Armada, will participate in an interview, Q&A, and book signing at Jean Cocteau Cinema on April 17th. There is a new paperback edition of Armada, and we are thrilled to celebrate its release with Ernest. We will have both hardcover and paperback versions of Ready Player One and Armada available for purchase at the event. If you identify on any level with geek culture, then these novels will fill your nerdy heart with pure joy!

In addition to picking Ernest Cline’s brain and getting books signed, we will have arcade games to play on our movie screen—hooray Pac-Man and Space Invaders! Who will earn the highest score? (Parzival is not allowed to participate.)

See you at the Cocteau!

ABOUT ERNEST CLINE:

Ernest Cline is a novelist, screenwriter, father, and full-time geek. His first novel, Ready Player One, was a New York Times and USA Today bestseller, appeared on numerous “best of the year” lists, and is set to be adapted into a motion picture by Warner Bros. and director Steven Spielberg. Ernie lives in Austin, Texas, with his family, a time-traveling DeLorean, and a large collection of classic video games.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Zack Lightman has spent his life dreaming. Dreaming that the real world could be a little more like the countless science-fiction books, movies, and videogames he’s spent his life consuming. Dreaming that one day, some fantastic, world-altering event will shatter the monotony of his humdrum existence and whisk him off on some grand space-faring adventure. But hey, there’s nothing wrong with a little escapism, right? After all, Zack tells himself, he knows the difference between fantasy and reality. He knows that here in the real world, aimless teenage gamers with anger issues don’t get chosen to save the universe.

And then he sees the flying saucer. Even stranger, the alien ship he’s staring at is straight out of the videogame he plays every night, a hugely popular online flight simulator called Armada—in which gamers just happen to be protecting the earth from alien invaders. No, Zack hasn’t lost his mind. As impossible as it seems, what he’s seeing is all too real. And his skills—as well as those of millions of gamers across the world—are going to be needed to save the earth from what’s about to befall it.

It’s Zack’s chance, at last, to play the hero.

—THIS MESSAGE WAS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE MINIONS OF FEVRE RIVER—

Tags: armada, ernest cline, jean cocteau cinema, ready player one

Last Call (Almost)

March 28, 2016 at 9:49 pm

Hugo nominations close at midnight on March 31.

Time is running out.

Let your voice be heard.

Let’s get some good stuff on the ballot!!!

NOMINATE!!!

http://grrm.livejournal.com/479524.html

Tags: hugo awards, worldcon

Francis Menotti Returns to Jean Cocteau Cinema #GrrMinion

March 28, 2016 at 4:24 pm

My name is Jenni, and I am just an ogre living in a human’s world. I also work for Jean Cocteau Cinema, George’s movie theatre and events venue in Santa Fe, New Mexico!

Jean Cocteau Cinema is proud to welcome the magician who stumped Penn and Teller, Francis Menotti, back to its stage on Friday, April 1st and Saturday, April 2nd. Our audiences were blown away by his performances last time, and Menotti says that he has written some awesome new material for us!

Francis Menotti has surprised and confounded audiences worldwide with his Scrabble tricks and word games. He runs circles around participants with an intentionally convoluted (but hilarious) script that makes you feel like you're struggling through the vocab section of the GRE—except that it's really fun!

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Magicians use sleight-of-hand or physical cues to direct attention away from a trick's execution, and Menotti takes it a step further with his outlandishly ornate vocabulary. You really do have to stop and think for a moment about what he's saying. His wordsmithing is both a brilliant distraction and an integral part of the trick's nerdy flavor.

Menotti also exhibits an appreciation for modern art history—Surrealism in particular. Lobsters and green apples make appearances in his shows, and sometimes he will work original animations and other artistic creations into his acts. His magic shows are funny, artistic, exciting, and absolutely brilliant.

In addition, Menotti agreed to do some up-close prestidigitations and card tricks in the bar after the shows! See you at the Cocteau!

—THIS POST WAS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE MINIONS OF FEVRE RIVER—

Tags: fool us, francis menotti, jean cocteau cinema, magic, penn and teller

Behold, The Mighty Editor

March 25, 2016 at 11:07 am

I have my editor’s hat on today. (It looks just like my writer’s hat, only in a different color). ((No, not really, I am being facetitious. Damn, you guys, don’t take everything I say so literally)).

For the past three weeks, the forty-odd (some very odd) members of the Wild Cards consortium have been submitting story proposals and pitches for the three new WC books from Tor, LOW CHICAGO and MISSISSIPPI ROLL and TEXAS HOLD ‘EM. Last night at midnight was the deadline for pitches.

As usual, we have more proposals than we need. Only eight writers per book. So today is Decision Day, wherein I decide who gets to be in which book, who is out, who gets to double-dip. It is never easy. So many talented writers, so many great characters, so many fun ideas.

But that’s why I get the Big Bucks as editor (that was another joke, yessir, for sure, this is a labor of looooooove).

John Sebastian said it best:

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Tags: anthologies, editing, wild cards

Countdown to Liftoff

March 21, 2016 at 7:45 pm

Only ten more days remain until the close of nominations for the 2016 Hugo Awards, to be presented in Kansas City at MidAmericon II.

Are you a member of MidAmericon? Were you a member of Sasquan, last year’s worldcon in Spokane? Are you a member of the 2017 worldcon, to be held in Helsinki, Finland? If so, you’re eligible to nominate the books and stories and artists you loved best in 2015.

So, please… NOMINATE!

You can do it here: http://midamericon2.org/the-hugo-awards/hugo-nominations/

No fan of good will, no one who truly loves SF and fantasy and worldcon and fandom, wants a repeat of what happened to the Hugo Awards last year. I am not going to rehash that sorry mess; there’s no point to it, everything that needed to be said has been said, and a lot more besides. I would rather look to the future. Let’s restore the silver rocket to its former glory (and, by doing so, make a second round of Alfie Awards unnecessary) as a true measure of the year’s best work in imaginative literature.

I made my objections to the Puppy slates clear last year. This time around, the Sad Puppies at least changed from a slate to a recommendation list, to which I have no objections. I’ve looked at their list. There’s some great work on it. There’s some bad work on it, writers and books that I don’t think belong anywhere near a Hugo. And there’s a lot of books and stories that I haven’t gotten around to reading yet. The same could be said for most any list, however. There’s stuff on the Nebula shortlist I don’t like as well, and a lot of books on the LOCUS list that I have not read yet. (I will get to some of them. Too many books, too little time). Sad Puppies 4 played fair, in my estimation, and for that I commend them.

((The Rabid Puppies produced another slate. They have entirely different aims. And no, we will not discuss them here)).

And how about my own recommendations?

I’ve made a few. I did not issue them all at once, in a single list, but rather category by category over the past five months. I did not get to every category, and even with those I did, my recommendations are by no means exhaustive.

My intent, whenever I make a recommendation, is NOT to say, “Vote for this,” but rather, “Here’s something I really liked, take a look it it, you may find it deserving as well.”

Some of the other recommended reading lists are just lists of titles and names. Fine and good, I suppose, but I prefer to do a little more: to talk about the categories, the books, the authors, the artists and editors, and where I can to discuss WHY I think they deserve a nomination.

My posts are still up. For those who want to read them, here are links:

Short Fiction:
http://grrm.livejournal.com/476905.html

Professional Editor, Long Form:
http://grrm.livejournal.com/474144.html
http://grrm.livejournal.com/472316.html
http://grrm.livejournal.com/471834.html
http://grrm.livejournal.com/470764.html

Professional Editor, Short Form:
http://grrm.livejournal.com/471135.html

Professional Artist:
http://grrm.livejournal.com/462350.html

Graphic Story:
http://grrm.livejournal.com/460106.html

Related Work:
http://grrm.livejournal.com/458605.html

Dramatic Presentation, Short Form:
http://grrm.livejournal.com/453648.html

Dramatic Presentation, Long Form:
http://grrm.livejournal.com/452587.html

Novel:
http://grrm.livejournal.com/457140.html

If any of you go back and read those — and I hope you will — read the comments too. There are plenty of other recommendations to be found there, recommendations from my readers and friends. I am only one (overworked) guy, I can’t get to everything, it’s great to hear from other precincts. Especially when they tell you why they liked whatever it is they liked…

I did mean to get to some of the other categories. Alas, I failed. I am just not knowledgeable enough to make recommendations in some areas.

I did overlook some good choices even in the categories I covered. Naomi Novik’s UPROOTED is her best work to date, a very strong fantasy (though I had problems with the ending) and probably worth a nomination in Novel. I forgot about EX MACHINA when talking about Long Form Drama, but it’s a gripping and well done film, worthy of consideration. I recommended OUTLANDER for Short Form Drama, but it should be noted that the first season was telecast in two eight-episode arcs, and only the second eight are eligible, as the first eight were broadcast in 2014. I think JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR. NORRELL should be nominated in Long Form as a whole, rather than in Short Form, by episode, but others disagree.

Anyway… quibbles and additions aside… read, watch, consider… and please…

NOMINATE!

Tags: awards, fantasy, hugo awards, science fiction, worldcon

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