Axiom's Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy

We are making some changes at Axiom’s Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy which start with a sister site we just kicked off called a byte of sci fi.  This site will be bringing you the world of Science Fiction and Fantasy a byte at a time and will include short bits of news, reviews, interviews, trailers, and more within the genres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.

With the launch of the new site, the news and updates pieces along with info on new releases in DVDs and comics will be shifting over to there.  At Axiom’s Edge, we will continue to post the longer pieces we have been bringing you regularly like reviews and articles and our regular posts like the Ratings Results and Cancellation Watch columns.  We will also keep you updated at both sites as to what’s going on at the other.

Blog owners, if you would like to post on a byte of sci fi, contact us at mail@byteofscifi.com.  And authors, if you would like to promote your book here, also contact us at the same email address.

Here’s a sampling of the bytes we have already posted to the new site and stay tuned for some more announcements coming out shortly:

What’s in the Pipeline for Science Fiction and Fantasy Television?

New on DVD: The Fourth Kind

Casting Bytes: Agent Smith to Play the Red Skull; Summer Glau Finds Another Series

New in Comics: X-23

New on DVD: Astro Boy

Box Office Results: Alice Wins Second Week

Sneak Peak at the Next Predator Movie

A collection of short stories by David Scholes

Reviewed by Sam Christopher

Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars

The first book of short stories I ever read on my own—in other words, one that I picked out for myself—was The Nine Billion Names of God by Sir Arthur Clarke. The second was The Wind from the Sun by the same Grandmaster of Science Fiction. I then picked up some Asimov. It would be a couple years before I discovered Dangerous Visions and fell in love with Harlan Ellison’s mad obsession with the twisted dark. Point is, for right or wrong, I always compare any book of short stories to Clarke’s marvelous tomes… and they almost always come up wanting. Which makes sense, considering the inherent unfairness of that comparison. And so it is with this newest book by David Scholes. Essential Reading in Science Fiction sounds like a book of classics by famous authors. Instead, it’s a book of pretty good stories by an unfamous one.

Mr. Scholes has a marvelous sense for coming up with off-the-wall situations and dropping the reader into the middle of them. His strength as a writer, for me, is his creation of alien races and entities—the Drealth, the Brell, Time’s Guardian, Earle—and using them to good effect in his stories. Add to that his use of the great characters from Norse mythology, such as Thor and Odin, as well as the human characters who are pretty much there to be awed, and you have a good comics-style formula for fun and action. Of course, all these stories aren’t comic book. One of the best of the bunch, “Internet Writer”, has virtually no action whatsoever, all of it happening in exposition as a writer gains fame and influence without trying—reminiscent of Orson Scott Card’s Peter Wiggin gaining control of all of humanity through use of the Net in the Ender series. Bottom line, these are enjoyable, easy to read stories that are mostly just fun while not being very deep.

Downside: They’re mostly still too short. As with Scholes’ first book, Science Fiction and Alternate History, A Collection of Short Stories, there seemed to be many pieces of ideas rather than fully formed stories. This book was better, and most of the ideas are fleshed out better than in the first, but I still spent most of my time reading the book wishing he’d just take all the Time’s Guardian stories, put them together and flesh them out into a true single tale—a novel. This wouldn’t work for all of the ideas, of course, especially his Norse-inspired tales, none of which seem to have any connection with any other beyond the characters used. I believe, as I do with most of these self-published works having read more than a few now, that this book would have greatly benefited from a good editor who could be a unifying influence for some of Scholes’ most interesting ideas—Time’s Guardian, The Shifter Child—and mold them into a more interesting narrative that has the time to take these characters, and the reader, where they most need to go.

Books by David Scholes Available from Amazon.com:  Essential Reading in Science Fiction and Science Fiction and Alternate History

By John J. Joex

One more show returned this week with new episodes, Human Target, and saw an improvement in its numbers from where it was before taking a two week break. The show pulled a 2.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 7.8 million viewers. Still not great numbers, but at least something to build on. Chuck dropped by a tick from the prior week going from a 2.4 rating to a 2.3, while Lost saw an improvement from its season low numbers last week as it increased to a 4.3 rating and 9.5 million viewers. Ghost Whisperer improved its performance from the prior week and Medium stayed about steady. This week, FlashFoward returns from its extended hiatus so check back with us in one week to see if that one manages to reverse the declining trend in the ratings that it saw last Fall.

Here is the full breakdown of the numbers for all of the Science Fiction and Fantasy shows that aired on the broadcast networks this past week:

Source: TV by the Numbers

Previous Results: Still Mostly Repeats

For more on the Cancellation Alert for each show, see our Cancellation Watch column

By John J. Joex

We know the fates now of more than half of the Science Fiction and Fantasy television shows airing.  Those in the renewed column are as follows:  Smallville, Supernatural, and Vampire Diaries at the CW, Fringe at FOX, and with Stargate: Universe and Sanctuary at Syfy.  I have not official heard word on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, but trust me that it will be back.  And Lost ends this season (though beware of spin-offs).  In the cancelled column so far are Dollhouse (FOX), Eastwick (ABC), and Past Life (FOX).  That leaves nine shows still waiting to hear whether they will live on for another season.  I will touch on each of these briefly starting from those most likely to be renewed and moving to those in big trouble.

Chuck (NBC):  This series lives on the bubble and seems to thrive there.  Its numbers aren’t great (they never have been), but it has the advantage of airing on the fourth place network.  I’d say this one is almost certain to get a nod for a fourth season.  Cancellation Alert: Low

Human Target (FOX):  It hasn’t made a huge splash in the ratings, but it’s done okay.  It’s also a very Prime Time friendly show with lots of action and adventure and little in the way of story arcs.  I see FOX holding onto this one for a second season.  Cancellation Alert: Low

Caprica (Syfy):  This one has really underperformed in the ratings and some consider it to be in trouble.  But Syfy has said they will stand by it and I can’t see them just abandoning the franchise.  The series has also received a lot of good buzz from the critics.  I believe that’s enough to earn it a second season, but it will have to improve its numbers if it wants to stick around longer than that.  Cancellation Alert: Moderate

Ghost Whisperer and Medium (CBS):  The former has been a Friday night mainstay for the eye network that has consistently performed well on a typically low viewership night.  The latter has finally provided a decent lead-out show for GW that does not experience a drop in the ratings at the 9 PM hour (in fact it has improved on its lead-in several times).  Both typically win their timeslots each week, but Fridays in general have seen an erosion from the numbers CBS enjoyed last year.  On any other network, I would say these two would be safe, but CBS has shown a high level on intolerance toward declining numbers (witness how they axed last year’s Eleventh Hour even though it ended the season in the Top 25).  The network has also proven quite unfriendly to the Science Fiction and Fantasy genre (again, last year’s EH, along with Moonlight and Jericho).  I’d put the odds in the favor of both shows, but you just never know with CBS.  Cancellation Alert: Moderate

Legend of the Seeker (Syndication):  I thought this one was doing okay in its second season ratings-wise (the quality has dropped off a bit, though), but its syndicator Tribune Company has announced they will not pick it up for a third season.  That’s not a definite cancellation, though, as its production company will try to shop it to other syndicators and to the cable networks.  The fans have started a raucous campaign to support it as well (see our Save My Show page for more info).  It’s probably about 50/50 on whether this one will return.  Cancellation Alert: Medium

Heroes (NBC):  Who knows about this one and who really cares anymore?  Its numbers were atrocious this season, but NBC has still suggested it could return.  I say let it rest in peace.  Cancellation Alert: Medium

V (ABC):  From a sheer numbers perspective, you would expect this one to get a second season nod seeing as it averaged a 3.7 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic across its four episode “premiere run” last November.  But then if you look at where it started vs. where it ended (going from a 5.1 rating all the way down to a 3.1), you see its not on very solid ground.  If it can hold onto the numbers it ended with, I believe ABC might keep it around.  If it sees any sort of downward trend, count it gone.  Cancellation Alert: Medium

FlashFoward (ABC):  This is another ABC show that started strong in the ratings then quickly headed south and I think it’s in much more trouble than V.  This one has also seen a lot of behind the scenes shake-ups and has had its episode order cut.  By all appearances, ABC has lost confidence in FlashFoward and will let it go after it wraps up its first season.  Cancellation Alert: Elevated

You can follow the status of all the shows currently airing at our Cancellation Watch page and also look for my weekly Ratings Results column to see how your favorite shows are doing.

By Sam Christopher

Finally! In the final issue of JLA: Cry for Justice, the idiot archer known as Green Arrow does something I can get behind and now we’ll be told it was wrong somehow. And now I’m thinking—wasn’t it the archer in the Squadron Supreme, Marvel’s ripoff of the JLA, who first misused their creations and abused their position of power? And Marvel’s own Hawkeye started out as a villain for Iron Man. Apparently, people with bows and arrows just can’t be trusted—despite the message of Avatar. Well, except in this case, as far as I’m concerned anyway. On the other hand, it does go to show that all those high-minded principles can easily go out the window when deemed necessary (see Star Trek VI and Spock’s scene forcing a confession and info from Valeris). This series has been excellent all around, even though I’ve carped about the portrayal of that lunk-head, Prometheus, but that’s just me. I like James Robinson’s Justice League, even though I didn’t get all the drama surrounding letting Prometheus go here. I kept thinking, “Let him go, get the codes, have Zee track the guy down later.” But I also realize it may not be that easy. Problem with this kind of story—this kind of morality play—is that so many can’t seem to understand that different tactics on one side call for change of tactics on the other. It’s easy to say that killing is wrong and we don’t kill but how many innocents have died because Batman won’t kill Joker? Kal-L, the original Superman, killed the Anti-Monitor, Barry Allen killed the R-Flash, Wonder Woman killed Max Lord—are we really not better off without these villains whose sole purpose in life was the murder of innocents for no other reason than because they had the power to kill others with impunity? And I know, I know, I’m dragging realism into comics but that’s where these artists have taken us. When it’s all light and cartoon I can look at it light and cartoonish but when they tout the grit and realism of the stories they also have to take the hits and swipes that come when readers don’t feel they’re being realistic enough. The amalgam pencils of Mauro Cascioli, Scott Clark, and Ibraim Roberson worked out well here, too. They added to the sense of realism and the heightened drama of this piece.

And with a little lull in the Ender’s Game series based on the novels, Marvel brings us the Orson Scott Card: Ender’s Game: Mazer in Prison One-Shot. This tale, based on a short story by OSC I haven’t read, tells how a Lieutenant Graff was assigned to find a replacement for Humanity’s Savior, Mazer Rackham. Rackham saved humanity mainly by not doing what he was told, doing what he thought was right in combat instead. Realizing this, he likes the maverick Graff almost immediately, and entrusts his own, and humanity’s, future in the Lt. As Graff would tell Rackham later, “ Once again, Admiral Rackham, with only one weapon in your arsenal, once again you knew right where to aim it.” And, once again, OSC oversees while someone else, in this case Aaron Johnston, scripts and someone else, in this case Pop Mhan, draws the pictures. Another excellent adaptation in this excellent series.

By Sam Christopher

They finally decide to pay off the Flash:Rebirth with the sixth issue, and this ultimate chap is all right. Barry has to stop Eobard from traveling to the past and murdering Iris West before she can become Iris West Allen. They make a big deal—Barry and Wally do, anyway—about how the past can’t be altered but if that’s really true why does Booster Gold have his own series? And speaking of our favorite “greatest superhero no one’s ever heard of”, where is BG and why isn’t he on hand here trying to stop R-Flash from altering the unalterable past? And why didn’t Booster or Rip Hunter prevent—or reverse (get it?)—the murder of Barry’s mother? Just something I thought about. The end of this great story, especially that last panel, by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver was worth the wait, internal logic problems aside.

There’s a mystery afoot in Gotham City Sirens #9, a mystery that takes the girls to the offices of one Edward Nigma. It involves another girl who, at first blush, seems to have been killed by our Sirens themselves—makeup, vine, claw marks— and who is first seen by the reader falling from the sky into the girls’ swimming pool. Where did she come from? Who did this to her? And why? The only clue, besides the shuck and jive that Nigma figures out immediately (first rule of private investigation is that the client is always lying; I watch The Rockford Files), is Selina’s having heard the girl say, “Doctor…” as she flew past to her death. Best part of the ish: Harley’s Day, especially her “three hour battle with Red Master, Lady Cataclysm and Killobot 7!” Worst part: The hidden villain I’ve never heard of, but he has a chance to get better. Final thought on this book this month: I think werewolves are better than vamps (and vampires don’t sparkle).

And, finally, Kara Zor-L of an alternate universe Krypton (unless they’ve changed her origin again this week and I missed it) and Princess Diana of Themiscyra face off in the latest Battle of the Busts in Wonder Woman #41. And, yes, it ends up with one of them tying the other up—although it may not be who you might think. All this because Ares, rather than have kids the normal way, decided to clone the New Gods’ Glorious Godfrey (isn’t what these brats do pretty much what GG did in the Legends mini all those years ago, except on a different scale?). After the inevitable super-heroine reconciliation, PG and WW switch roles, so to speak, and Power Girl’s diplomatic skills are pretty much what you’d expect, at first anyway. And in an unrelated note—except maybe for diplomacy purposes—Achilles finds the mansion chosen for him by Diana all right but is actually far more taken with the realtor she sent specifically for him. Name of “Patrick Cleese”, if that means anything to you. An excellent, fun-filled ish that ends one story while transitioning us toward another.

By John J. Joex

The third issue of Jericho Season 3: Civil Wars is here at last and delivers yet another excellent installment in the series.  Hawkins and Jake break into a military prison to free John Smith who they hope can help in the impending conflict with the ASA.  Meanwhile, in Jericho, Eric and Mary prepare for their wedding as he uncle Emmett arrives form the east and berates the townspeople for accepting the presence of the ASA.  I have to say that this book has really exceeded my expectations so far and has done a magnificent job of carrying on the feel of the television series. As each segment plays out, I can just see and feel the original actors leaping off the page. In fact, this issue really made me regret once again that CBS cancelled the show because the hour long format would have allowed them to expand on the stories relegated to only 22 pages in the comic book. Still, the writers make the most of those pages and cram in a ton of story while also succeeding in not making us feel they are throwing too much at us at once (like what we saw with the second season because they were trying to get too much into only seven episodes). And Alejandro F. Giralbo’s artwork continues to excel as well. He does a fantastic job of capturing not just the likeness of the original actors but also the mannerisms of the characters they portrayed. I just can’t say enough good about this series and if you are a Jericho fan who has not started following it yet, it’s time to jump on board.  You can read my detailed synopsis of this issue, along with issues 1 and 2 at our Jericho Season 3 page.  And the next issue should be making its way to the stands sometime in May so stay tuned.

Buy this Issue of Jericho Season 3 from TFAW.com

By John J. Joex

Have you tuned in for FOX’s adaptation of the DC comic series Human Target yet?  If not, you need to clear you schedule on Wednesdays at 8 PM EST and make this appointment television.  Not only does the show give us a witty, tightly-written, action/adventure yarn each week, it has also packed each episode with any of a number of faces familiar to Science Fiction and Fantasy fans.  This of course begins with the show’s excellent cast which includes Mark Valley in the lead role (he played Olivia’s late beau John Scott in the early episodes of Fringe) along with his two assistants played by Chi McBride (cantankerous Emerson Cod from Pushing Daises), and Jackie Earl Haley (Rorschach from Watchmen and soon to appear on the big screen as the next Freddy Krueger).

These three along with the  variety of veterans from other Science Fiction and Fantasy shows each episode has paraded across the screen have have really made this a standout series.  I do not know if the producers have intentionally sought after these familiar faces to give Human Target some additional genre cred or if it just happened that way, but it gives yet another reason to tune in each week.  Following are the faces that I have noticed so far across the first six episodes:

Ep 1 – “Pilot”: Two Battlestar Galactica vets joined in for the inaugural episode – Tricia Helfer (Number 6) and Donnelly Rhodes (Doctor Cottle)
Ep 2 – “Rewind”: Yet another ex-BSGer Alessandro Juliani (Felix Gaeta) stopped by along with Sean Owen Roberts (Painkiller Jane)
Ep 3 – “Embassy Row”: Smallville mainstay from that show’s early years Emmanuelle Vaugier (Dr. Helen Bryce) guest-starred.
Ep 4 – “Sanctuary”: Could the presence of William Mapother (Ethan from Lost) suggest a possible connection to that show’s sideways world? Also, Sam Huntington (Superman Returns, Fanboys) made an appearance.
Ep 5 – “Run”: Kristin Lehman (Strange World, Andromeda, Century City) stopped by, and the presence of William B. Davis (Smoking Man from The X-Files) made us a bit nervous (conspiracies and alternate universes colliding?).
Ep 6 – “Lockdown”: Alias uber-geek Kevin Weisman (Marshall Flinkman) stopped by to play, well, an uber-geek.  And yet another X-Files vet, Mitch Pileggi (Assistant Director Skinner), made an appearance along with Autumn Reeser (Valentine).

The series returns tonight after taking a break for a few weeks and has a couple more faces that genre fans might recognize as well in Leonor Varela (guest-starred on Stargate: Atlantis) and Kim Coates (various guest-star and supporting roles including Smallville and the Hercules mini-series from 2005).  In addition, an article on Sci Fi Wire reveals that Lenny James (Jericho), Grace Park (Battlestar Galactica), Amy Acker (Dollhouse), and Moon Bloodgood (Journeyman, Terminator: Salvation) will be showing up in the coming weeks.  So be sure to tune in and play the game of “what genre show did that guest-star appear on?”  Or just sit back and enjoy this comic book come to life which delivers a fun, very entertaining, over-the-top hour of television.

Watch Full Episodes of the Human Target Online at Hulu.com

Go to TV.com for more info on the Human Target including Episode guides and Cast bios

Pickup the first issue of the all-new Human Target comic book series as well as the collections of his previous adventures at TFAW.com:

Do you reddit?  If not, then perhaps it’s time to join the conversation.  Reddit.com is a social networking site that has many sub-reddits that would interest Science Fiction and Fantasy fans.  Axiom’s Edge sponsors one such sub-reddit called The Sci Fi Scroll where we post links to news, updates, reviews, rants, and so on from the genre.  We basically just post links to articles we believe our readers would want to read.  You can join in on our reddit and submit your own links as well, whether it is to articles you stumbled across and want to share with other Science Fiction and Fantasy fans or to your own blog posts.  In addition, you can upvote the posts that you like (and downvote the ones you don’t, though we prefer to limit those clicks) and thus the more popular links will rise to the top of each group’s main page.  We encourage everyone to get involved, and you’ve got nothing to lose because it’s free to join.

There are plenty of other sub-reddits that Science Fiction and Fantasy fans would enjoy as well.  Many of these are more discussion oriented where you can submit a link to an article (or just a rant if you want) in order to generate a dialogue with the other members of the group who have similar interests to your own.  Following are several that we recommend and I’m sure you can find even more that interest you if you poke around the site for a while (and feel free to share your findings with us).

Sci Fi Reddit

Their description: Science Fiction, or Speculative Fiction if you prefer. Fantasy too.

This one is more of a discussion reddit, though plenty of people submit news stories and/or commentaries relating to the genre as well.  They highly emphasize not including spoilers in your post title.

Fantasy Reddit

Their description: This reddit will focus on literature, gaming, graphic novels, websites, movies, art, pictures and more. Anything related to Fantasy.  Tolkien, steampunk, A Song of Ice and Fire, The Wheel of Time, World of Warcraft, Discworld, medieval genres, magic, etc.

Zombies Reddit

Their description: The Zombies subreddit was created to host submissions regarding gatherings, movies, books, music, theater, speculative science, and games featuring the flesh (and/or brain) eating dead.

Star Trek Reddit

Their description: Welcome to the Star Trek subreddit! The most active (well, as far as we know) Trek hangout on the web!

Stargate Reddit

Their description: All things dedicated to the Stargate TV series. SG-1, Atlantis, Universe, Games and everything else.

Lost Reddit

Ongoing discussions about all things Lost.  A great place to hang out as the series wraps up with its sixth and final season.

Writing Reddit

Their description: A subreddit for the written word: fiction, nonfiction, your own creative writing, popular authors, and so on.

I just received word directly from Devil’s Due Publishing that Jericho Season 3 #3, the comic book continuation of the TV series, will indeed hit stands tomorrow, March 10th (we had previously heard a rumor of that date, but now it’s confirmed and you can completely ignore any release dates TFAW.com has for the book).  The comic has so far carried on the story from where the television show ended after its second season and has delivered an excellent tale that should satisfy  fans jonesing for more  Jericho.  Check back with us shortly for a full run-down on Issue #3 including a detailed synopsis and a review, and be sure to pick up your copy as well.  (Read Johnny Jay’s review of Issue #3)

Get Issue #3 of Jericho Season 3 at 20% off from TFAW.com