Show #40: Pre-show Discussion

Show #40 will cover Jhereg by Steven Brust.

Published in 1983, it’s the first book in the Vlad Taltos saga, of a planned 17 volumes. Steve likes the number 17; he’s said so.

The 11th book in the series, Jhegaala, just came out this month, in hardcover from Tor.

Immortals, sorcery, political intrigue, assassins, thieves and familiars. What’s not to love?

Show #39: Pre-show Discussion

Show #39 will cover RoboCop.

This 1987 feature film starred Peter Weller, Ronny Cox, Nancy Allen, Kurtwood Smith and Miguel Ferrer. It was director Paul Verhoeven’s second US made film (after Flesh & Blood starring Rutger Hauer), and it was #1 at the box office for 3 weeks.

RoboCop won the 1987 Saturn Award as Best Science Fiction Film, and won an Academy Award for Sound Effects Editing.

Want to jumpstart your geeking? Check out the original movie trailer on YouTube… and hear the Terminator theme being used as the background music.

Show #37: Pre-show Discussion

Show #37 will cover Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Discussion will include both the 1956 version and the 1978 version, so make sure you study up!

Show #36: Pre-show Discussion

Show #36 will cover Fred Saberhagen’s The Broken Lands, Book 1 of the Empire of the East trilogy.

Published initially as separate volumes, it was consolidated into the omnibus edition sometime around 1978-79 for reprinting, and has been that way ever since.

Book 1: The Broken Lands, 1968
Book 2: The Black Mountains, 1971
Book 3: Changeling Lands, 1973

Show #35: Pre-show Discussion

Show #35 will be discussion about Near Dark, a 1987 cult classic, starring Adrian Pasdar, Jenny Wright, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton, and Jenette Goldstein. It was directed and co-written by Kathryn Bigelow, and yes, it features what seems like half the cast of Aliens.

Vampires, cowboys, and romance, with a Tangerine Dream soundtrack. What’s not to like?

Show #34: Pre-show Discussion

Show #34 will be discussion about “Ringworld”, the Larry Niven classic, winner of both the Hugo and Nebula awards for 1970.

Did you know that Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner have co-authored “Fleet of Worlds”, a book that will be on shelves Oct 16, 2007, and while not a prequel, has direct ties to “Ringworld” and one of its main characters?

Check out Dragon Page “Cover to Cover” in a couple weeks to hear an interview with Edward Lerner about that, and other “Ringworld” related stories coming up.

Show #33: Pre-show Discussion

Show #33 will be about “Quantum Leap”, a sleeper scifi hit that ran on NBC from 1989-1993.

The episodes Dave has selected, and that you may want to brush up on for this Ninjas evaluation are:

Season 1, Disc 1: “Genesis, Part 1″
Season 2, Disc 1: “What Price Gloria?”
Season 3, Disc 3: “A Little Miracle” and “8 1/2 Months”
Season 4, Disc 1: “The Leap Back”
Season 5, Disc 1: “Deliver Us From Evil”
Season 5, Disc 3: “Mirror Image”, “Revenge of the Evil Leaper”, “Goodbye Norma Jean”

Quoting Dave, “I think if you saw these episodes you’d be well placed to discuss the series. And if you watched all of these discs entirely, you’d be QL experts.”

Scott Bakula, Dean Stockwell, science, time travel and history. Sort of the MacGyver of Time Lord wanna-bes, but not exactly so. Go on… you know you were thinking the same thing.

Show #32: Pre-show Discussion

Show #32 will be about “War for the Oaks”, a Locus Award-winning fantasy novel by Emma Bull.

Originally published in 1987, and republished in 2001 as a trade pb with this cover, this tale is about a Minneapolis singer who’s in between bands, and is being drafted into the battle between light and dark in the Seelie Court.

It’s got fairies and rock and roll. What else do you need to know?

Emma and husband Will Shetterly now live in Tucson, and occassionally travel to the Phoenix area, so you never know… we might be able to get her on here for another guest discussion.

Did you know that Emma used to be in the band Cats Laughing with Steven Brust?

Show #31: Pre-show Discussion

Show #31 will be about the classic 1982 film, Poltergeist, directed by Tobe Hooper, and produced and co-written by Steven Spielberg.

For a list of our upcoming topics, and what’s being considering for later Ninja topics, don’t forget to check out our Future Topics section! Also, feel free to comment about the upcoming topic here in a private thread, or over on the Ninjas thread at the new FarPoint Forums.

Show #30: Pre-show Discussion

Show #30 will be about E. E. “Doc” Smith’s “Galactic Patrol”, part of the classic Lensman series.

For a list of our upcoming topics, and what’s being considering for later Ninja topics, don’t forget to check out our Future Topics section! Also, feel free to comment about the upcoming topic here in a private thread, or over on the Ninjas thread at the new FarPoint Forums

Show #29: Pre-show Discussion

Show #29, due out mid-April, will be on the 1970 SF film Colossus: The Forbin Project.

For those of you who are curious what our upcoming topics are, and what we’re considering for Ninja topics, don’t forget to check out our Future Topics section! Also, feel free to comment about the upcoming topic here in a private thread, or over on the Ninjas thread at the new FarPoint Forums

Show #28: Pre-show Discussion

Show #28, due out mid-March, will be on Vernor Vinge’s Hugo Award-winning “A Fire Upon the Deep”.

Start reading now… it’s about 600 pages of space-faring adventure!

For those of you who are curious what our upcoming topics are, and what we’re considering for Ninja topics, don’t forget to check out our Future Topics section!

Show #27: Pre-show Discussion

Whoops! This is going out a little later than I’d planned, but not to worry, it’s an easy one.

The Ninjas plus guests will be discussing Highlander, the 1986 Russell Mulcahy feature film. Chock full of mythic heroes and villains, and an abundance of swordplay, this movie not only spawned a successful and fun TV series spinoff, but it’s achieved “classic” status. We may even touch on the series a little bit, but it all depends on how caught up we get talking about the movie.

And remember, there can be only one. Movie. No, seriously… those other movies? Never happened.

Show #26: Pre-show Discussion

It’s catch-up time. Show #26 will be about the Robert J. Sawyer novel, “Far-Seer”.

Joe chose this one for us… sort of an allegorical tale about Galileo, only set in a world of intelligent and technologically advancing dinosaurs.

You can read the opening chapters over at Rob’s website: Far-Seer

It’s Book 1 of the Quintaglio Trilogy, Book 2 being Fossil Hunter, and Book 3 being Foreigner.

Show #25: Schedule Change

Show #25 will be both postponed and changed.

Originally, we were going to talk about “Far-Seer” by Robert J. Sawyer, and since that book was a Joe selection, I really didn’t want to do this topic without his involvement. But he’s taking a Ninjas sabbatical until Kuato is taken care of, so “Far-Seer” is being put back on the shelf.

Instead, Show #25 will go out at the end of January, and the topic will be the one formerly known as Show #26, the 1984 cult classic Buckaroo Banzai. David and I will be back then with hearty discussion on this favorite (or favorite to hate, depending on who you talk to), and we may even have stunt Ninjas in on the show.

Joe said he’d post something here, himself, so I’ll let him give you the health situation update.