Microsoft Research and Disney•Pixar’s WALL•E Explore the Real Universe

Microsoft Research and Disney•Pixar team up to offer guided tours of the universe with WorldWide Telescope.

REDMOND, Wash. - Nov. 18, 2008 - Microsoft Research teamed up with Disney•Pixar to create a virtual tour of the universe hosted by none other than WALL•E, the animated robot from Disney•Pixar’s latest film, “WALL•E,” which is available in stores today on DVD and Blu-ray Disc. Anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can take the tour and view the universe from WALL•E’s perspective by visiting www.worldwidetelescope.org. A teaser for the tour can also be seen on the DVD and Blu-ray Disc.

Along for the adventure with WALL•E, Academy-Award-winning director Andrew Stanton narrates the tour. “Using Microsoft’s WorldWide…

Topics: Disney, Wall-E

Always cool to see Heliotrope alumni putting out novels! Today BookSpot Central is pleased to offer a copy of Heaven’s Bones by Samantha Henderson! Ms. Henderson’s story, Honey Mouth, was the first ever story I bought for Heliotrope!

Heaven’s Bones was released last September by Wizards of the Coast!

Synopsis:

Angels of horror offered as a gift to life.

Dr. Sebastian Robarts is a man paralyzed by the fate of his adored wife, dead in childbirth, their only child with her. He searches for a way to build angels from women, a pastime known to Scotland Yard as murder. Robarts meets the Vistani seer named Trueblood, who becomes his assistant and leads him to the Antebellum-era domain of Riverbend, controlled by the sadistic Dr. Weldon, to create…

Topics: Heaven's Bones, Ravenloft, Samantha Henderson, Wizards of the Coast

Who hasn’t read Oh Pure and Radiant Heart, My Happy Life or Everyone’s Pretty? If you haven’t, you probably aren’t picking up the fiction of Lydia Millet. While that in itself is an unfortunate malady to any discerning reader, it is correctable and BookSpot Central is the first response!

Lydia Millet simply writes some of the most emotional and passionate fiction out there over the last few years - it has heart. Her fiction has a thoughtful, and appreciable complexity and I’m so proud we are able to present an excerpt of one of her books as she is a must read writer for me. Oh Pure and Radiant Heart was short-listed for the Arthur C. Clarke Award and Everyone’s Pretty was the winner of the PEN-USA Award for Fiction in 2003. Today, BookSpot Central has the first chapter from her latest, How the Dead Dream, published early this year by Soft Skull Press.

Synopsis:

An only child in a typical middle-American family, T.’s first love is money, specifically the faces on the bills - Jackson, Hamilton, and Lincoln. As his peers go through teen crises, T accumulates, playing the responsible capitalist, setting up a successful real estate business.

But T’s material life begins to change as he adopts a dog, meets a girl, and takes his mother in after she splits up with his father. But when events conspire to leave T isolated again he starts to lose faith in people and civilisation and turns to nature instead, developing a strange and powerful obsession with endangered animals.

How the Dead Dream is a brilliant, moving satire about human loneliness and environmental loss, from one of America’s most exciting literary voices.

Ms. Millet has had a portion of this chapter available at her site but BookSpot Central has the chapter in its entirety.

I would like to thank Soft Skull Press and Lydia Millet for allowing us to present the following sampler.

Please check out all of our other exclusives for more chapters/excerpts from novels and complete short stories from collections and anthologies to sample! BookSpot Central is the choice for several publishers to bring you the goods!

I hope you enjoy!

Topics: Exclusive, How the Dead Dream, Lydia Millet, Soft Skull Press

How many book places/sites you go to won’t mention this?

BookSpot Central has no complexes in supporting publishers with their own contests and wants to support those who support us and give readers a heads up and let people know that Orbit Books has two opportunities for readers to win some holiday reading material!

We aren’t scared!

This was passed along the Orbit/Orbit UK Books Newsletter and we at the BookSpot Central feel like this is need to know information for readers!

Contest I

To make it simple, first thing you need to do is simply sign up to receive their monthly newsletter. You can do that here. The sweepstakes is open to everyone who is a member of the Orbit UK e-bulletin list as of 5.00…

Topics: Orbit

On behalf of BookSpot Central I’d like to offer our best wishes for a speedy recovery to Tobias Buckell who is in the hospital where some heart complications are being looked into.

Feel free to pass along your words of encouragement!

A true ragamuffin, he’s blogging and looking for a X-Box!

Get well soon Tobias - we have more Xenowealth planets to explore!

Topics: Tobias Buckell

Contests ending, people are sad, so we have to keep on bringing what’s hot to keep days bright and spirits high! Today at BookSpot Central I have five copies of the forthcoming novel from Holly Phillips, The Engine’s Child, to be published by Del Rey. A lot of people are starting to put together their best of 2008 lists and this is a novel that’s one of those 20-25 or so that I have to cut down to 10-15 for my portion of the BookSpot Central end of the year lists.

Holly Phillips wrote one of my favorite collections of the last few years with her In the Palace of Repose which was a finalist for both the World Fantasy and Crawford…

Topics: Del Rey, Holly Phillips, Random House, The Engine’s Child

Susan Tedeschi – Back To The River

Genre – Blues

Label – Verve

Quick Take: River of filler

Get it if: Your mom wants a blues album for Christmas.

Don’t get it if: You can’t take happy blues.

Sometime in 1998, I just happened to wander into Manny’s Car Wash (R.I.P.) on the upper east side of NYC. There I heard the most blistering female blues voice this side of Bonnie Raitt. Seeing Susan Tedeschi that night made me an instant fan and soon she became the next big up and coming blues star. Since that time 10 years ago, Tedeschi’s star didn’t rise as high as expected, but she is nonetheless and incredible blues woman. In her latest offering, Back To The River, I wanted to see if marriage and motherhood…

Topics: album, Back To The River, music, Other Side of the Tracks, Susan Tedeschi

Back with more exclusive content to give readers a sneak peek at some work by some of the best and/or newest talents! Today, BookSpot Central exclusively brings you the prologue from the latest coming from Hal Duncan. Duncan is the author of the Vellum and and Ink. Vellum was nominated for the World Fantasy Award and BFS Award for Best Novel honors as well as getting nominated for the Locus and and Crawford awards for Best Debut Novel/Author.

What I have for you is the prologue from Duncan’s Escape From Hell! being published by MonkeyBrain Books and hitting shelves next month!

Synopsis:

A hitman, a hooker, a homosexual kid, and a hobo suicide make the ultimate prison break…escape from Hell itself! But when news of their attempted escape gets out, the souls of the damned are transformed into a rioting mob, and all Hell truly does break loose. It’s Escape from New York meets Jacob’s Ladder, by one of fantasy’s rising stars.

Escape from Hell! is the second in their series of tradepaperback original novellas, following last year’s Cenotaxis by Sean Williams. Next up is 2009’s Death of a Starship by Jay Lake. You can stay up to date on Hal Duncan’s work at Notes From the Geek Show.

BookSpot Central would like to thank MonkeyBrain Books and Hal Duncan for allowing us to host the following excerpt to our readers!

Please check out all of our other exclusives for more chapters/excerpts from novels and complete short stories from collections and anthologies to sample! BookSpot Central is the choice for several publishers to bring you the goods!

I hope you enjoy!

Topics: Escape From Hell!, Exclusive, Hal Duncan, MonkeyBrain Books

Time for another edition of the BookSpot Beat, the BookSpot Central topic-specific, 10-question interview feature! Recently Solaris Books has announced  a forthcoming anthology to be edited by former Interzone co-editor Jetse de Vries. The anthology, Shine, is set to present  Science Fiction with more of a positive outlook. From the press release:

“Shine is a science fiction collection of near-future and optimistic stories, where some of the genres brightest stars and some of its most exciting new talents portray the possible roads to a better tomorrow. Definitely not a plethora of Pollyannas (but neither a barrage of dystopias), Shine will show that positive change is far from being a foregone conclusion, but needs to be hard-fought, innovative, robust and imaginative. Most importantly,…

Topics: Author, BookSpot Beat, Jetse de Vries, Shine, Solaris

Directors: John Stevenson, Mark Osborne
Actors:Jack Black, Ian McShane, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, Seth Rogan, David Cross
Studio:DreamWorks Animation, Paramount
Release Date: November 8, 2008

This is how I remember it.  When I was growing up, I would wake up on Sunday, eat some cereal, watch some cartoons, and then the real fun began. I would watch at least one or two kung fu movies, and while they were always entertaining from an action stand point, a lot of them had comedy embedded in them as well. After watching Kung Fu Panda this is how I felt, like I had stepped back a bit to my childhood and it was a grand Sunday afternoon.  Kung Fu action abounds, with charming characters telling…

Topics: Angelina Jolie, David Cross, DreamWorks Animation, Dustin Hoffman, Ian McShane, Jack Black, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, Paramount Studios, Seth Rogan

The fourth week of Masterworks Monday is here! Dark Sword Miniatures and BookSpot Central join forces and presents George R.R. Martin’s Masterworks Collection! Twenty weeks, twenty figures, up to twenty winners of George R.R. Martin goodness! These are GRRM approved renditions of characters from his A Song of Ice and Fire series produced by the people hand-picked by the man himself. The winner of the third drawing for the Hound figure will be announced tomorrow - you still have time to enter!

Today it’s time for Jaime “The Kingslayer” Lannister! Tell the truth, Martin has made his story one of the most compelling in the latter novels!

Who is Dark Sword Miniatures?

Dark Sword Miniatures Inc. was founded with the single purpose of creating extremely…

Topics: A Song of Ice and Fire, Dark Sword Miniatures, George R.R. Martin, George R.R. Martin Masterworks, Masterworks Monday

Author: Jack McDevitt
Cover Artist: John Harris
Publisher: Ace Books
Binding: Hardback
Publication Date: November 2008

Jack McDevitt is back in fine fashion with The Devil’s Eye, the fourth novel in his Alex Benedict series.  Horror author Vicki Greene has had her mind wiped, and it is up to Alex Benedict and his steadfast employee Chase Kolpath to find out who did it and why.  The novel, like all of the novels in this sereis, is narrated in the first person by Chase, who is sort of the Watson (albeit a more intelligent version of one) to Alex’s Sherlock Holmes.  Apart from assisting her employer in the antiquities business, Chase also chaffeurs him around, piloting his skimmer (spaceship) on their many adventures.

Why should the job…

Topics: ACE, Alex Benedict Series, Jack McDevitt, The Devil's Eye

Author: Daniel Abraham
Cover Artist: Stephan Martiniere
Publisher: Tor
Binding: Hardcover
Publication Date: August 2007

A while ago I read Daniel Abraham’s début novel A Shadow in Summer and I was very impressed. Of course I immediately got the second book in the Long Price quartet, A Betrayal in Winter*, after which it was swallowed by the ever intimidating to read stack that resides on the desk next to the computer I am writing these reviews on. Earlier this week I finally picked it up. Again, I found a well written, tightly plotted novel featuring a number of interesting characters with complex motivations. There are some notable differences with the first book too though. While A Betrayal in Winter is a good book by any measure, I think I…

Topics: A Betrayal in Winter, Daniel Abraham, Stephan Martiniere, Tor

It’s better to give than receive and BookSpot Central is back offering an opportunity for 5 people to take home the kick-off book to the Night Angel trilogy, The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks. You can read the BookSpot Central review of The Way of Shadows and interview with Weeks.

Synopsis:

For Durzo Blint, assassination is an art-and he is the city’s most accomplished artist.

For Azoth, survival is precarious. Something you never take for granted. As a guild rat, he’s grown up in the slums, and learned to judge people quickly - and to take risks. Risks like apprenticing himself to Durzo Blint.

But to be accepted, Azoth must turn his back on his old life and embrace a new identity and name. As Kylar Stern, he…

Topics: Brent Weeks, The Night Angel Trilogy, The Way of Shadows

Photo by Travis Johnson Photography

Our guest for this edition of “On the Spot” is Brent Weeks, author of The Night Angel Trilogy, recently published by Orbit Books.  Unless something changes in the next few weeks before the end of the year, The Way of Shadows will be my favorite book of the year, and will hopefully do well at the BookSpotcentral Tournament we have. Not since Wes Unseld (NBA Players for the Bullets), in 1969, have I seen a rookie that has put together such a strong first showing.  Brent was a great fellow and even as I pull off an embarrassing interviewer faux pas and asked him pretty much the same question twice, and he answers them both, what a guy.  Now without further delay, let…

Topics: Author, Brent Weeks

_{*Saturday’s Sound Off is an open venue for speaking out on issues related to books, book publishing, magazines, etc.  The plan is that there will be no regular, sole contributor, but that this column space will serve as an online speakers’ corner, providing a platform for people passionate about books with something to say.}

Making A List, Checking It Twice by Sandra Ruttan

It’s list season.

Not just lists for Santa Claus, or lists of things to do before the end of the year, or lists of who to send Christmas cards to.  No, it’s time to compile the “best of” lists.

This week, Rolling Stone published their list of the top 100 rock singers of all time.  The #1 choice sparked an automatic debate…

Topics: Sandra Ruttan, Saturday Sound Off

Author: George R. R. Martin
Publisher: Harper/Voyager
Publishing Date: 2003 (New Ed.)
Binding: Paperback
Cover Artist: Larry Rostant

A Clash of Kings is the second installment in the epic fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire, which George R.R. Martin began with the excellent A Game of Thrones. Martin is deeply inspired by English history in the late medieval period, more specifically the Wars of the Roses where the dynasties of Lancaster and York fought a long-drawn civil war about the throne of England. His historical inspiration was particularly conspicuous in A Game of Thrones, which in many respects reminded me of The Sunne in Splendour, Sharon K. Penman’s excellent historical novel about the Yorkist monarchs Edward IV and Richard III.

In Game of Thrones several of the…

Topics: A Clash of Kings, A Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin, HarperCollins, Larry Rostant, Voyager

Tor passed along a video featuring Orson Scott Card talking Ender in Exile and Ender in general!

Remember, BookSpot Central has a signed copy of Ender in Exile up for grabs as a contest!

Enjoy!

Read/Post Comments

_{A publisher, publicist, author, or artist and have news or announcements you think should be noted at BookSpot Central? Email us at admin@fantasybookspot.com and let us decide!}

Topics: Ender in Exile, Orson Scott Card, Tor